THIS IS AN OLDER STORY. READ THE 2019 SEQUEL HERE: https://cccnews.info/2019/11/03/exclusive-the-top-20-tv-shows-college-students-watch/
By Darren Johnson
Campus News
Contrary to popular belief, many of today’s college students actually prefer live TV, and bigger screens over smaller ones. That’s what an extensive, just-released study by Comcast’s Xfinity On Campus tells us; Xfinity services 130 residential colleges across the country – no small sample – and can monitor what students watch live vs. stream vs. DVR, and how and when they watch shows.
Exclusive to Campus News, we were provided a list of the Top 20 shows students watched and/or streamed in the first half of 2018 by Comcast, and will delve into those later in this article. First, let’s look at some of the study’s counterintuitive takeaways:
Forty-four percent of college students preferred to watch TV live; this refutes the belief that students don’t watch TV traditionally, and thus don’t see the commercials. Thirty-seven percent streamed, while 19 percent used their DVR to watch shows.
“Video is not dead,” according to Adrian Adriano, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives for Xfinity on Campus. “Students still watch a lot of content.”
The most popular days to watch TV for college students were Thursday and Sunday nights. Saturday was least popular. Each day, 7 to 9 p.m. were the prime time to veg out with shows.
Of the Top 20 shows students watched, half were live sports and half were scripted/reality shows.
The reason why sports are watched live is obvious. Not knowing who will prevail is the fun of it. But the same goes for other shows; people don’t want them spoiled.
“If you think about it, hit scripted/reality shows are watched on first air because you don’t want your friends to tell you what happened before you see them,” Adriano said. “For example, ‘The Bachelor.’ You don’t want to know who won by reading the paper the next day.”
And students tended to prefer bigger screens when watching TV vs. on a mobile device, by a 2 to 1 ratio.
“We find that the larger the screen the more time students are interacting with Xfinity on Campus.”
At the 130 colleges with Comcast’s Xfinity on Campus, dorm-living students are given over 100 popular channels for free, to view in their room or on their device, so it’s a pretty sweet amenity. The company believes that students will continue their cable TV viewing habits after they leave college and get places of their own.
“We hope that students not familiar with Comcast will fall in love with our service and become paying subscribers after they graduate,” Adriano said.
And here are the Top 20 shows that college students are watching, with some commentary:
1. “The NBA Playoffs” – This makes sense in that they hit right in the heart of the spring semester and basketball is a communally watched sport with lots of action. (No. 1 nationwide during this period, according to Nielsen, was “Rosanne,” which, apparently, college students do not like at all. Also, NFL football ranks higher than the NBA, outside of universities.)
2. “This is Us” – This popular NBC drama is No. 3 nationwide in the standard 18-49 demo, according to Nielsen, so no surprise it’s also popular on campus.
3. “Olympics 2018” – The Olympics taking Nos. 3-4 is a positive sign for the games, as popular belief is that people have tired of them post-Cold War. Perhaps the US Dream Team pummeling Latvia is interesting after all? Or maybe this speaks to the internationality of many US residential campuses.
4. “Olympics 2018 Primetime” – See above.
5. “Grey’s Anatomy” – A popular ABC show that ranks No. 10 via all households skews even better amongst college students. Considering the questionable antics of the medical staff at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, hopefully pre-med students aren’t taking notes.
6. “2018 NCAA Basketball Tournament” – This would score higher, but it hits, in part, during Spring Break.
7. “SportsCenter” – This show doesn’t even register in Nielsen’s Top 100.
8. “The Bachelor” – Is this show a sport? A drama? Reality? Well, it scores higher with college students than with Nielsen’s typical 18-49 demo (No. 18).
9. “Jersey Shore: Family Vacation” – No. 9? Yikes! This show only scores No. 38 amongst Nielsen’s demo.
10. “Super Bowl LII” – Many students are just getting back to school when the football finale hits, but, still, a surprise that this mega-show only comes in at No. 10.
11. “Riverdale” – This CW show based on the “Archie” comics only does well with college and younger demos, apparently. Nielsen doesn’t list it.
12. “Inside the NBA” – See No. 1.
13. “Stanley Cup Playoffs” – Hockey is still a draw.
14. “The Good Doctor” – This show about a doctor with autism who can think outside of typical diagnoses does well in the college demo and the Nielsen 18-49 demo (No. 6).
15. “Keeping up with the Kardashians” – Does anything happen on this show?
16. “grown-ish” – This “black-ish” spinoff sees their oldest child going to college, thus, it makes sense that this Freeform show makes a list of popular college shows.
17. “Modern Family” – ABC shows do really well with the college crowd, apparently. This show is No. 13 with Nielsen.
18. “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” – This Mariska Hargitay/Ice T cop drama is over 20 years old; older than many of its college viewers, even. Perhaps they had watched this at home with their Gen X parents and … can’t … stop … watching?
19. “The Simpsons” – And this cartoon series is over 30. Same?
20. “SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt” – This show must be different than No. 7.
And that’s all folks! Agree/disagree with this list? Comment below.
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