Students on college campuses really enjoy watching live TV, mainly on their laptops, according to Comcast statistics. The company released a summary of aggregated from its Xfinity On Campus service show that college students prefer watching live television, then video on demand, followed by DVR content. In the last two years, the service -- which includes access to live and on demand programming from 100+ broadcast, cable and premium channels anywhere on campus-- has doubled in size on college campuses. Xfinity On Campus now reaches more than 130 college campuses around the country.
The data shows students particularly enjoy watching content on their laptops over other mobile devices, especially on Thursdays and Sundays during primetime.
The data, compiled from January 2018 through June 2018, showed:
- Live TV Matters: 44 percent of total video consumption was live, followed by video on demand at 37 percent, and DVR at 19 percent.
- TGISunday and TGIThursdays: Students spend the most time watching TV on Sundays and Thursdays, while spending the least amount on Saturdays. And 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. is still the most popular viewing time across all days of the week.
- Biggest Screen Wins: Even without TVs, students still revert to the biggest screen available; twice as much consumption happens on computers and laptops verses mobile devices.
- Sports Reign: Live sports dominated the top 10 most-watched programs, fueled by the NBA and NFL playoffs, the Winter Olympics, Super Bowl, and the NCAA basketball tournament.
- Must-See TV: Among the most popular live programs were This is Us, Grey’s Anatomy, The Bachelor, Jersey Shore: Family Vacation, Riverdale, The Good Doctor, Keeping up with the Kardashians, grown-ish, Modern Family and Law & Order: SVU.
“Tens of thousands of students use Xfinity on Campus every day to watch TV and that’s enabled us to identify some interesting viewing trends, like the significant portion of live programming college students are watching, including sports, scripted drama and reality TV,” said Mike Gatzke, Vice President, Video Subscription Services, Comcast Cable. “Xfinity on Campus is helping us learn a lot about what, how and when students watch, and ultimately enabling us to further enhance and improve our service to offer them the best entertainment experience across devices, anywhere on campus.”
