NTVB Media will provide a weekly roundup of television viewing recommendations to newspapers at no charge until at least May 31.
Curated by NTVB’s television critics and editors, What to Watch includes daily viewing suggestions from Sundays to Saturdays, with versions provided in Eastern and Pacific tune-in times. What to Watch also includes movie recommendations
Newspapers can access What to Watch at content.ntvbmedia.com, and each weekly edition will be available for download on the previous Friday. In addition, NTVB Media partnered with Lee Enterprises, which is providing daily versions of What to Watch that are camera-ready for newspapers.
“Newspapers are focused on reporting important news about the pandemic to their readers,” said Andy DeAngelis, president of NTVB Media. “We hope this small gesture of providing What to Watch helps the papers, and gives their readers a valuable tool and an entertaining diversion from the more serious things outside.”
The coronavirus pandemic has most Americans living under stay-at-home orders, causing television viewing to skyrocket.
Media research firm Nielsen anticipates an increase of 60% more television viewing during the stay-at-home restrictions related to the pandemic. Nielsen reported that streaming of TV and movies has jumped 36% — from 115 minutes to 156 minutes weekly — since the start of stay-at-home orders. In addition, Nielsen said the increase in television viewing has been higher among younger viewers since the coronavirus outbreak.
Not surprisingly, the Los Angeles Times noted that “A cooped-up audience hungry for information on the coronavirus is driving up viewership of TV news to extraordinary levels.”
“As people stay safe at home over the next several weeks, we expect a shift in viewing from news to more entertainment,” DeAngelis predicted. “And people will naturally be looking for good programming to watch. We launched What to Watch to help them and our newspaper partners.”
In addition to television news, people across the country are relying on newspapers for much-needed news from federal, state and local authorities, along with information on infection prevention, screening, financial and other types of assistance.
To augment coronavirus coverage, NTVB recommends that newspapers post What to Watch to their websites and social channels, and include a hyperlink to it from their e-editions.
NTVB Media, Inc. is the largest independent publisher of entertainment magazines in the United States. Its publications include TV Guide Magazine, TV Weekly, Channel Guide Magazine, OnDish, ReMIND, TVInsider.com, and VIEW! Magazine. The company markets and distributes TV Weekly and syndicates content and interactive widgets to hundreds of newspaper partners throughout the United States.