Report: Live TV Viewers Sit Through Commercials

NEW YORK: A majority of viewers of live TV—86 percent—will sit through commercials versus changing channels or leaving the room, according to the Video Consumer Mapping (VCM) study sponsored by the Council for Research Excellence (CRE).

The report notes that 11 percent of viewers change channels during the four minutes of TV programming before the commercial break; 14 percent change channels during commercials; and 13 percent change channels in the four-minute period after programming returns. The study also indicates that 19 percent change rooms in the four minutes before a commercial break; 20 percent during; and 21 percent in the four minutes after programming returns.

Another key finding is that TV advertising and program promotions reach 85 percent of adults daily, and viewers typically see 26 advertising or promotional breaks daily, at an average length of 2 minutes and 46 seconds per break.

The VCM study, which cost $3.5 million, assessed the media habits of 376 adults over 752 observed days. The research found that most adults are exposed on average to some 73 minutes of live TV commercials or promotions daily.

"Do viewers actually pay attention during commercial breaks?" asked Laura Cowan, VP and media director of RJC Advertising and chairperson of the CRE’s Media Consumption & Engagement (MC&E) Committee. "For years, media professionals have been wrestling with this question, and they’ve been debating the merits of audience data whether they are based on written diaries or on electronic measurement devices that require manual user interaction. This new data, the result of actually "embedding" observers with a statistically significant number of TV viewers, is a major development in terms of learning what people watch and how they watch it."

She concluded: "In short, when the commercials come on, people stay with the TV; they only go the kitchen if they’re hungry, and they don’t fight over the remote."