HUT/PUT National Prime Trends

HUTs and PUTs tend to follow similar patterns year after year, with some variations for Olympics months. During the year, there is some variation by month but not dramatic differences.

It has often been theorized that Americans watch much less television during the summer. In actuality, TVB’s analysis of June, July and August NTI averages for 2001-2012 finds that the fall-off is consistent and not severe nationally. Some local markets, particularly in the South, may actually have increased HUTs because of the hot summers.

Here are the major trend points:

• There is very little difference in the HUT indices for the summer months over the last 10+ years.
• Adult 18-34 PUT summer differences were consistent with 2011.
• Yearly averages for HUTs and PUTs were very close across all major demos in 2012 vs. 2011, with gains in HH, A18-49, A25-54 and A55+.
• The decline in summer months’ HUTs averaged under 5%, with a decline of 5% in June, 6.5% in July and 2.5% in August (Olympics).

Resources:

Click for the NTI primetime HUT tables by month (XLS)
 

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