The average time spent in front of a TV screen (ATS) in the Czech Republic has crossed the four-hour mark for the first time in 2021. On average, people aged 15 and over spent 4 hours and two minutes in front of a TV screen last year. In the viewing population over 4 years old, the average daily TV viewing time was 3 hours and 43 minutes. In both cases, these are the highest figures in the last 25 years, i.e. since the beginning of electronic measurement of viewing in the Czech environment, ATO-Nielsen Admosphere data indicates.
Average daily viewing time (in hours); Source: ATO-Nielsen Admosphere, live + TS0-3, CS 15+, CS 4+While TV viewership grew in all age groups in 2020, when the strictest measures against the spread of covid-19 were introduced, the increase in 2021 was mainly among viewers over 35 years of age. "The year 2020 was exceptional in that children and people aged 15-24 also watched much more television. Last year, on the other hand, marked a return to the trend of declining TV viewing among younger age groups," says Pavel Müller, Head of Research & Marketing at Atmedia, which commercially represents 28 thematic TV channels on the Czech TV market. However, he points out that despite this, Czech children aged 4-14 still spend an average of 1.5 hours a day watching TV. For millennials, i.e. viewers aged 25-34, viewing figures are as high as 2 hours and 17 minutes a day.
"Over the last ten years, TV viewing has been growing continuously. In 2020 and 2021, however, its figures shot up to record levels," said Pavel Müller. However, compared to other countries in Central Europe, the Czech Republic is the only country in the region where TV viewership increased last year not only compared to 2019, but also to 2020.
In Hungary, viewers spent almost 5 hours a day watching TV. Slovaks and Poles also spend more time watching TV than Czechs. In Poland, TV viewing in 2020 was the highest in the last three years, down 5 % year-on-year last year. Slovakia also saw a similar trend. Here too, viewing figures were highest in 2020, when they climbed to 4 hours and 22 minutes. In 2021, viewership fell by 2 minutes.
According to Atmedia, 2021 confirmed the trend of growing interest in thematic TV stations, which Czech TV viewers can watch mainly on pay-TV operators. Compared to 2020, TV viewership increased mainly for film, series and documentary stations. For example, the share of viewership of National Geographic, Film+, CS Mystery and Eurosport 1 grew by double digits, benefiting from the return of sporting events to TV screens, led by the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
A comparison of the time spent watching TV in Central European countries in an infographic from Atmedia can be downloaded in the file below.
Source: mediaguru.cz
