Many factors impact TV viewing habits. One of them is seasonality. The audience spends more time in front of the TV in winter than in summer, in 7 big cities of Georgia (Tbilisi, Rustavi, Gori, Kutaisi, Zugdidi, Poti, and Batumi). The highest TV viewing in 2016-2020 is recorded in January, when the TV network is loaded with New Year’s entertainment shows, feature films and concerts. The lowest TV viewing during this period is recorded in August, when the audience spends more time outside the home. 

Along with general TV viewing habits mentioned above, watching specific genres also increases or decreases according to the season. For example, watching entertainment programs increased by 40%, feature films - by 24%, and news programs - by 12% in winter in 2016-2019, in 7 big cities of Georgia compared to summer. 

Graph 1.

As Graph 1 shows, watching all genres is higher in winter than in summer (2016-2019, 7 big cities of Georgia). Sport is an exception. It seems that sports shows are more popular in summer than in winter. That’s probably due to the fact that the main sports activities, competitions, matches are held in summer.

Due to the ongoing pandemic in the world, the picture is different in 2020. In this year, 2 332 hours were devoted to the news. Also in March, April and May 2020, the highest viewing of news programs was recorded compared to the previous 2 years. In April 2020, the viewing of news programs increased by 44% compared to April 2019 among the Georgian channels monitored by “Tri Media Intelligence”.