TORONTO – Big changes have occurred in the TV viewing environment over the past year says Doug Davis, vice-president, research and revenue management, Alliance Atlantis.
He reported to attendees at Wednesday’s Spotlight on Specialty Television (see releated story) that the return of NHL hockey last fall saw sports-based specialty networks experience audience gains from 53-57% compared to the season before in the adult (25-54) demographic.
Most noteworthy, says Davis, is that this gain was made without creating any audience losses in the remainder of specialty television. In fact, the remainder of the specialty networks realized a 7% audience growth during the same period. Davis says this was made possible because total tuning for specialty channels was up in the fall 2005.
Canadian specialty channels last fall accounted for 30.1% of total viewing by adults compared to 35.5% for conventional TV in Canada. In 1998 conventional TV viewing represented 45% of the market compared to only 18.8% for specialty.
