National commercial loads on network programming rose during December, according an analysis of Nielsen data by Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research.
Wieser found that commercial loads across the TV business rose to 10.9 minutes per hour, up from 10.7 minutes in December 2015 and 10.4 minutes in December 2014.
At a time when many industry execs are talking about cutting back on commercials, only Scripps Networks Interactive and Time Warner produced noteworthy reductions on their networks.
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Total use of television was up 0.4 on a total day basis for adults 18-49 during December. The increase was fueled by an increase in consumption via internet-connected devices, which was up 66%. Viewing on connected TVs now accounts for about 9.2% of total TV use among adults 18-49, up from 5.6% a year ago.
Viewing of English-language broadcast networks and ad supported cable channels was down 3.5% among adults 18-49. National commercial impressions on TV were down 0.7% for total day and 0.4% in prime time.
Viacom had the largest share of C3 commercial impressions among adults 18-49 at 15.4%, up from 15.3% a year ago thanks to slightly higher ad loads. AMC had the biggest gain in share, while Time Warner’s share was down the most.
For the fourth quarter, Comcast’s NBCUniversal had the most commercial impressions, up to a 14.7% share from 14.4% a year ago. Fox had the biggest increase in impressions in the quarter, rising to 10% from 8.1%.
