The Quarantine Effect: Despite lack of live events, consumers are still watching

An analysis of viewing behavior from 15 million HHs shows that Cable news has seen a decline in viewership compared to the increase seen in late March, though it is still up drastically from January and February.

Overall, TV hours (both linear and OTT) watched is up over 40% in 2020 compared to the same time last year.

OTT viewership also saw a major increase in viewership following the introduction of Covid-19 in February, with the largest surge in March following the declaration of a U.S. national emergency.

While cable news overall has maintained viewership following a sharp increase in early March, FOX News viewership remained at January levels throughout the month of March.

Furthermore, the analysis of viewing behavior from 15 million HHs shows that MSNBC and CNN continued to see an increase in viewership during the month of March.

Just as viewership has increased, ad spend has jumped across cable news networks. In March 2020 compared to January 2020, CNN, FOX News and MSNBC saw a combined increase in ad spend by $200 million.