Network Deep Dive: Showtime
Today we’re continuing our series of network deep dives with a look at Showtime, using data from Inscape and iSpot to surface viewership trends and advertising highlights. (Previous deep dives include A&E, History Channel, AMC and The Weather Channel.) Data below is from Jan. 1 through July 8, 2020.
Viewership Trends via Inscape
First, some details about Showtime’s audience location by local area market. According to Inscape, the TV data company with insights from a panel of more than 15 million smart TVs, hotspots of viewership include the markets of New York, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Palm Springs, CA; Baltimore, MD; and Boston, MA (The darker the shade of blue in the map shown here, the higher the concentration of Showtime viewers.)
Local area market tune-in for Showtime, Jan. 1-July 8, via Inscape
Based on the average percent of TVs watching, the top programs on Showtime so far this year include Homeland, Billions, Shameless, The Chi and Penny Dreadful: City of Angels.
With Homeland concluding its run this past April, where else can that show’s fans be found? According to Inscape’s show crossover analysis, Homeland viewers are likely to watch programming including Shameless, Morning Joe, The Blacklist, Fareed Zakaria GPS and CNN Newsroom.
It’s also worth noting that during the weekend of July 10-12, The Chi was one of the top five most-binged time-shifted shows (based on minutes binged as a percent of all binged shows that Inscape measured).
Looking at other shows likely to be watched by Showtime viewers off-network, Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel leads, followed by War of the Worlds, I Know This Much Is True, The New Pope and The Plot Against America.
Via Inscape
Inscape has minute-by-minute viewing data for anything that airs on TV. Below, for example, a look at the June 14th episode of Billions. You can see how tune-in steadily increased throughout the episode.
Via Inscape
Inscape also examined viewership crossover between Showtime and four other premium networks: Cinemax, Epix, HBO and Starz. (A note about methodology: You have to do more than just flip past a station with your remote to count as a “crossover viewer” in Inscape’s system. For the data below, the minimum viewing threshold is ten minutes.) For Showtime specifically, the highest crossover (60%) is with HBO; the highest crossover of all is between Cinemax and HBO, with 73% of Cinemax viewers also watching at least ten minutes of HBO during the period measured. At the low end: Only 21% of Epix viewers watched Cinemax.
Advertising Insights via iSpot
Aside from Showtime’s own promos, ads don’t run on the network — but it’s been advertising its programming across other channels this year. According to iSpot.tv, the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company, Showtime spots generated over 1.93 billion TV ad impressions Jan. 1 through July 8.
CBS is the No. 1 network for impressions, accounting for 44% — which makes sense given that Showtime is part of ViacomCBS — followed by CNN and Nick@Nite. (Nick is also part of ViacomCBS.) Top impressions-generating shows include Friends, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, CBS This Morning, The Late Late Show With James Corden and Mom.
Showtime’s most-seen spot so far this year is a promo for Homeland, which generated over 440.2 million TV ad impressions. A promotion for Billions is in second place with 420.1 million TV ad impressions.