- July 26, 2016

Reaching New TV Show Viewers with Precision

Denise Bercovitch
Denise Bercovitch
Vice President, Product Management

Every year, content creators invest millions of dollars in the creation and promotion of new TV shows. To boost the new show’s chance of success, its vital that networks know how to best reach the key segment of viewers known as “new show adopters” who consistently tune into new content.

As of the Rentrak merger, Comscore added tens of millions of set-top boxes to its already massive measurement scale. With this unmatched scale comes the unique ability to target audiences with precision and accuracy based on their past viewing patterns.

Comscore has seen the segment of “new show adopters” in the past through its custom work (which Rentrak wrote about in a 2011 blog post). And now, with Rubik, one of Comscore’s television analytics tools, clients are able to analyze custom targets based on demographics, consumer behavior, and viewing across time. These insights help to reach the right audiences in the right places and at the right times for more effective and efficient programming, promotions and advertising.

In this example, by creating custom dynamic targets based on household income of $75k+ and viewership of premiere programming on top broadcast networks, Rubik was able to make a strong case that series premiere programming attracts consistent, high volume viewership. We examined four viewer dispositions from September 2014 among households with income (HHI) of $75k or more: those who didn’t watch any series premieres, those who were light viewers of series premieres, those who were moderate viewers of series premieres, and those who were heavy viewers of series premieres. The “Index” column shows the relationship of the viewership of households in September 2014 to the viewership of those same households for series premieres in September 2015.

The major finding in this analysis is that heavy series premiere viewers carry over year-to-year. In 2015, the 2014 heavy new series viewers were still more than two-and-half times more likely to watch a series premiere than the general population.

Series Premiere Viewer Dispositions

Index of Viewing to ABC, CBS, Fox & NBC Series Premieres in Sept. 2015

Non-2014 Viewers

56

Heavy 2014 Viewers

253

Medium 2014 Viewers

126

Light 2014 Viewers

101

Note: HHI $75K+

These insights mean that TV networks have the power to use past viewing behavior to impact future viewing behavior. Heavy new show viewers from one year can be reached in a subsequent year, enhancing a network's ability to grow a new show’s audience base and ensure its overall success.

For more information on Rubik or other television insights from Comscore:contact us

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