Local TV Viewing Up as Wider Demographic Range Tunes In, Comscore Reports

TV viewing in the top 25 markets grew 13% from the week of March 9 to the week of March 16 and 33% from the week of March 18, 2019, said Comscore Tuesday. Much higher ratings for local stations during the COVID-19 pandemic are being driven by a broader demographic representation of viewers than is typically observed during news segments, said the research firm: Viewing for the 18-34 segment is up 38% year on year -- 35% for those 35-54 -- through March 22. Seattle and New York had lower than average week-over-week increases vs. the national average when comparing the week of March 16, 2020, with the previous week; the regions were hit “early and hardest” by the coronavirus, Comscore noted. During the week of March 16, viewing increases were most dramatic in San Francisco, Dallas and some Midwest metropolitan areas.