TV Viewing Habits in 2022

The lifestyle and habits of French people experienced unprecedented changes during the two years of the global pandemic, which are reflected in their relationship with television.

With an increasing number of content offerings and platforms, increased availability of programmes, working from home, etc. in a changing world, dominated by video and a huge choice, the medium of TV is more essential than ever as a benchmark and viewers are increasingly involved in their consumption.

"Médiamétrie provides a consolidated view of media consumption and in 2022, video played an essential role in our daily lives. Whether through television, SVoD platforms or social video, virtually all French people (50.4 million) have daily contact with video.."

Isabelle Maurice, Director of Studies, Monitoring and Forecasting

Within a growing range of content and media, television remains a mainstay of video consumption in France with 43.3 million daily viewers. And TV programmes account for 80% of time spent in front of the TV screen.

The major post-Covid changes in TV

After two years of heavy consumption, individual television viewing time in 2022 was 3 hours 26 minutes per day, returning, in most countries of the world, to the steady downward trend that has been in the last ten years.

During the pandemic, television occupied a central place in French people’s daily lives. Certain behaviours have become established in the long term, particularly with the pervasive use of working from home by managers. Therefore, people in the upper socio-professional categories are keeping up the habit of watching TV during the day and the news channels saw their audiences double compared to 2019, during lunch breaks (noon-2 pm) and at the end of the working day (6 pm-8 pm).

Another post-Covid side effect is that complementary uses of TV screens (SVoD, video games, online videos, etc.) are continuing to grow. For example, almost 1 in 2 households (47%) now subscribe to an SVoD service, which is up 18 points compared to 2019. Furthermore, 8.9 million individuals use SVoD platforms daily including a growing proportion among people aged 50 and over (up 7.6 points versus 2019).

However, with 52 minutes per individual, these complementary uses still only represent 20% of the time spent in front of the television screen each day.

Thanks to this huge choice, TV viewers are the big winners

The year 2022 saw a rapid increase in the phenomenon of the multiplication and transformation of video market players in general. Between the "platformisation" of television groups, the arrival of advertising on paid video-on-demand platforms and the emergence of so-called FAST channels, the previously well-defined boundaries between players in the audiovisual landscape are becoming porous. There is one constant: an ever-increasing and diversified offer of video content available to TV viewers.

TV viewers are in control of their time and are increasingly choosing when and where to watch their programmes. Live TV is not the only option anymore Every month, 41.2 million French people take advantage of a catch-up programme (pre-recorded or on catch-up) in the week following the live broadcast.  This figure is up 41% from 2019.

TV, between basics and creativity

In this increasingly competitive and constantly changing world, when it comes to bringing viewers together, entertaining them or informing them, the medium of TV is proving to be essential on its fundamentals. 

During major sporting events such as the last football World Cup, for example, television continues to set audience records.  24.1 million viewers, including 5.7 million outside their homes, watched the final between France and Argentina on 18 December 2022. This ability to bring people together crosses borders, since a programme like Eurovision, which was broadcast on 14 May 2022, brought together more than 160 million fans in 34 countries.

The power of TV media is also confirmed in its ability to entertain 45.6 million French people watch at least one entertainment programme each week. And the under 35s are still fans of this type of format.

Television remains the preferred channel for following the news, bringing together, for example, 35.3 million viewers to watch the results of the second round of the 2022 French Presidential Election during the 8 pm newscasts.

Beyond these fundamentals, at a time when content is attracting audiences, video market broadcasters are competing for creativity just to exist in the midst of a plethora of offers. Television held its own by offering 352 new programmes in 2022, i.e. 26% more than in 2017.  Special attention is given to primetime programmes, which represent nearly 60% of new programmes broadcast.

Finally, reflecting contemporary society, 138 hours of 138 hours of women's sports broadcasts were scheduled this year, i.e. 7 times more than 10 years ago.

 "All players in today’s video market today are changing, fragmenting or merging their offers in order to be more competitive. In this highly dynamic context, audience measurement, a unique, neutral and independent reference, is essential. Médiamétrie focuses its work on measuring all of these new uses in order to offer its clients the most relevant solutions, especially in terms of the measurement of video content and advertising.."

Laurence Deléchapt, Director of TV & Cross Media

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