How the weather affects television viewing

Denis Lawson and Andy Watts

The weather is a major cause of fluctuations in the level of television viewing. The authors describe how a model which uses as data simply the hours of sunshine and mean temperature can predict 90% of the variation in viewing at the extreme temperature ranges and almost 70% even in the middle range.

How the Weather Affects Television Viewing

Denis LawsonSenior Research Executive andAndy Watts Research Executive Audits of Great Britain

Some readers may remember that, precisely one year ago, a great deal of publicity was devoted to the year-on-year decline in TV viewing. This issue was, of course, of considerable concern to the television industry, since the implications of a reduction in commercial messages can have a significant effect on advertisers’ budgets. The year-on-year decline in viewing recorded last year, however, can largely be explained by the weather, which was mild in January 1988 compared with a...

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