Europe is now the biggest TV consumer, overtaking North America for the first time.
That’s according to new research by research company Glance (previously Mediametrie), which found TV viewers in 91 countries around the globe spent an average of 2 hours 54 minutes per day watching TV during 2020, up 6 minutes on 2019.
In Europe, daily viewing rose by 15 minutes in 2020, compared to a rise of 10 minutes in Latin America, and a drop of 8 minutes per day in North America.
Despite the belief that young people have stopped watching TV, Glance found young adults’ viewing time increased by 2 minutes, to an average of 1 hour 49 minutes a day.
The research found that non-linear TV viewing remained largely stable last year, but did increase for particular TV shows, such as ITV’s I’m A Celebrity… which Glance says accounted for 41 per cent of the show’s audience, while 72 per cent of the audience for BBC drama Life watched on catch-up and pre-broadcast.
French TV viewers spent almost twice as much time watching SVoD content in 2020 compared to the previous year, while Norway saw a 49 per cent growth. According to Glance, the most popular SVoD shows during Q4 2020 were The Crown in France and The Queen’s Gambit in the UK, Spain, Germany, and Italy.