Time-shifted audience of electoral debates: an exception of the informative genre

Abstract

The possibility of watching time-shifted TV shows has transformed the measurement of audiences. This why since 2015 the visualizations of programs have been recorded from the first minute of their broadcast up to seven days later. In this research, we analyze the characteristics and evolution of the debates time-shifted audience of the Spanish and European elections of 2019 and we will compare them with those of other informative tv shows and with the fiction and entertainment genres. According to methodology, we use audience data collected with Infosys software during the last two months of both election periods and we also interview experts. Results show that, in relative aspects, the time-shifted audience of debates only increased by 2.90%, but in absolute terms, the increase was greater than other genres during the analyzed period because they are events of great interest where the conflict and confrontation made them lead also on traditional linear television. Therefore, we conclude that the debates time-shifted audience is an exception in informative tv shows, which usually are ranked in the last place compared to other genres. In addition, we observe a progressive erosion of the number of viewers and their distribution in the seven days after the broadcast, due to proximity of the Spanish and European elections. We also detect a predominance of the vosdal audience (viewing on same day as live), which is explained by the important relation between debates and current affairs.