Further to the 'Gender and Genres' look at television viewing we did a while ago, I wanted to either prove or dispel the belief that during holiday seasons, television viewing drops significantly.

We knew there would be some viewership drop-off due to holidaymakers changing their addresses and that they are therefore not being measured by peoplemeter. Yet the data clearly indicates that people are still watching television.
 
As it would take forever and a day to run data across all television stations and because there is a ceiling of eight stations at a time (for the purpose of this ‘study’), I chose to look at the viewing patterns of the following stations:

  • SABC1, 2 and 3;
  • e.tv;
  • Mnet;
  • BBC Britky;
  • kNET; and
  • Mnet Edge

I decided not to choose any sports channels because the content is hugely dependent on what is happening at the time. The Olympics will, for instance, mean a spike in viewers, as will any other popular events such as Wimbledon, Masters, and Tour de France.

Kiddie's channels were also left off because their viewing patterns are very stable – they watch Disney, Cartoon Network, or Nickelodeon whether they are on the moon or in the desert.

Across three broad target audiences:

  • All Adults 15+
  • Adults 5-7
  • Adults 8-10
So, the big question is: Is there holiday seasonality or not?

Well, no – not really.

If we look at graphs of average audience ratings by month by target audience by station, we note that there are definitely ebbs and flows during the year, with a marked increase from June/July, which is a holiday period. There is a very slight drop off in November and December, but nothing to really make one sit up and scream “seasonality”. This can be attributed to holiday makers viewing elsewhere or not viewing at all, if overseas for instance.

The DStv channel viewership remains quite stable, with SABC2 viewership showing the biggest dip.

It is interesting to note the September spike in viewership. The assumption is that the summer season is upon us and viewership figures will decrease a little because people are out and about. Again, that’s not the case.

When we interrogate LSM 8-10 and the DStv channels chosen, we see a dip in May and December on Mnet, and a decrease in ARs from August on kykNET. 

The shift in audience on kykNET for August and September could arguably be attributed to the Rugby World Cup, but is an interesting anomaly for the other months.

Ever wonder about the number of hours viewed by day or if there are any particular days that show more hours viewed? Total viewing hours against All Adults 15+ show a major decline on a Thursday. Contrary to popular belief that Friday nights are ‘club night’, there is a spike on Friday nights, which tapers off towards the end of the weekend.

The kids viewing patterns are what we would expect: major weekend viewing. LSM 5-7 vs LSM 8-10 viewing is interesting in the differences: LSM 8-10 shows steady viewing hours during the week, with the opposite true over the weekends. 

The number of hours viewed on a Sunday against the LSM 8-10 market increases, whilst the LSM 5-7 pattern decreases.

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