Who needs a good laugh? These days, after crossing the one-year mark of living in a pandemic, who doesn’t?
Perhaps a sign that consumers are longing for the good times, they are literally watching shows like Good Times. It’s true, the growing abundance of media choices is helping people across the country find something to smile about when they want to turn away from the news and get that happy feeling again. And comedy programs are coming to the rescue.
While the comedy genre is always popular, comedy viewing* over the past year highlights a resurgence of nostalgia comedy programming, particularly shows featuring diverse leads and cast members. Family Matters, for example, which was produced between 1989 and 1998 and features an all-black cast, saw a massive spike in viewership across national TV last year. Specifically, people ages 2 and older watched almost 11.4 billion minutes of the program last year, almost 400% more than in 2019, when viewers watched just 2.3 billion minutes.
While many Americans gravitated to their funny old favorites in 2020, it wasn’t a blockbuster year for the comedy genre overall. In fact, comedy viewing was down 9% nationally compared with 2019. With much of our attention focused on COVID-19, racial injustice and the presidential election, the dip isn’t surprising. That said, our data makes it clear that when audiences needed a break from reality, they traveled back in time to tried-and-true picks like 朋友, Family Matters, the Golden Girls 和 Two and a Half Men, which, combined, accounted for more than 234 billion viewing minutes throughout the year.
Even with the dip in minutes viewed, the 1.3 trillion minutes of viewed comedy programming across national television last year highlights a very important insight: Despite an array of licensing deals with streaming services, revered comedy programming is just as big of an asset for local and national TV programming as it is for streaming platforms. The Office, for example, which made streaming news late last year when it was announced that the show would jump to a different streaming platform, garnered strong viewership throughout 2020 across both traditional TV programming and Netflix.
The viewership of The Office across traditional TV and Netflix highlights both the massive appeal of the program and how varied consumers’ TV behaviors are. Importantly, viewership of the program across Netflix did not have a negative impact on linear viewing last year, as consumers watched 4% more minutes of the show in 2020 on traditional TV than they did in 2019.
The appeal of nostalgia comedy programming and its availability across multiple platforms bodes well for other streaming platforms as well, as the top three comedy titles of 2020 (朋友, 生活大爆炸 和 Two-and-a-Half Men) are no longer solely available through traditional syndicated TV programming. 朋友, for example, racked up almost 97 billion minutes of viewing across national TV last year, making it the most-viewed comedy show of 2020. And now that it’s available on HBO Max in the U.S. and Netflix in Canada, Australia and the U.K., total viewership in 2021 will grow the program’s audience much more broadly.
热门联合节目跨平台的高收视率凸显了一个重要发现：在更多地方提供这些节目实际上会增加总收视率。因此，广播公司不应该仅仅因为某个节目在其他地方也可能播出而回避可能的联合播出交易。反过来，这些新增节目也将使广告商受益。
如今，很难想象消费者不需要开怀大笑，但地区数据突出表明，不同市场的喜剧观看行为远非相似。例如，匹兹堡观众去年每周平均观看喜剧节目的时间为 2 小时 25 分钟，大大高于盐湖城观众每周观看喜剧节目的 49 分钟。按年计算，这一差距更为明显：每人每年观看喜剧节目的时间为 126 小时，而盐湖城为 43 小时。
Programming preferences are equally varied, with 朋友, Big Bang Theory 和 Two and a Half Men ranking as the top three comedy programs across 42 designated market areas (DMAs). Meanwhile, unlike viewers across the rest of the U.S., viewers in Greensboro-H.Point-W.Salem and in Raleigh-Durham rank the Andy Griffith show as their favorite comedy.
In times of disruption and uncertainty, few would argue that the comedy genre is a welcomed diversion. Disruption makes viewers reach for the tried while uncertainty drives us toward the true. And generally speaking, good comedy is timeless, as evidenced by notable viewership spikes in programs as diverse as the Golden Girls, George Lopez, Full House 和 Hogan’s Heroes. After a year of isolation, with the road ahead brightening, but still unsure, as more nostalgic programs find their way to new platforms and channels, there’s little doubt that along with our hopes, viewership will continue to rise.
*来源和方法
本分析中提及的喜剧收视包括 NNTV（尼尔森全国电视收视）和 NLTV（地方电视收视）中属于喜剧综艺和情景喜剧类型的所有节目。2019年和2020年全年所有在广播、有线电视和辛迪加播出的电视节目均包括在内。收视率仅基于电视机上的传统 PUT（直播+时移）。任何流媒体或通过数字设备观看的节目均不包括在内。总观看时长是根据所有播出节目的总时长和总人口的项目观看时长计算得出的。
