Television Co-Viewing in Mexico: An Assessment on People Meter Data

Television co-viewing is a frequent behavior with important social and economic implications. This study proposes a measure of co-viewing on people meter panel data, tests it on a data set in Mexico, and uses it to explore co-viewing. Individual differences in psychographics, program genres and co-viewing of the lead-in programs were discovered as antecedents to co-viewing. Results indicate as well that co-viewing leads to increased watching time and reduced channel browsing, and this effect interacts with group composition. These findings provide further support for the social uses of television theoretical framework, and shed light on the inheritance effects in continuous programs.