Live vs. Time-Shifted Television Viewing, Q3 2012 [CHART]

Chart - Live vs. Time-Shifted Television Viewing

Americans are increasingly viewing time-shifted TV, and how that figures into ratings has recently become a more prominent topic of discussion. But how much TV is being watched live, as opposed to later the same day or on another day? Nielsen’s latest cross-platform report, covering Q3 2012, details the breakdown, for broadcast, cable, and syndicated TV, finding that broadcast is most likely to be time-shifted. Specifically, 87.2% of broadcast TV was viewed live, compared to 93.3% for cable and 94.4% for syndication.

How much has that changed over time? Not drastically, it turns out. Back in 2007, Nielsen reported that 90% of all broadcast primetime viewing among television viewers age 18-49 occurred live, meaning that 10% was seen via DVR playback. The live viewing figures were higher for cable (97%) and syndicated programming (98%). Read the rest at MarketingCharts.