There are those who think that the only competition to a TV channel are other TV channels in the same genre.
There are others who think that the competition is all other channels.
And there are still others who think that there is a lot more one could list.
That’s because TV is primarily watched in what is popularly called ‘Prime Time’; anything consumers could do other than watch your channel is competition.
Like the restaurants one could have dinner at.
Like the movies one could watch at multiplexes.
Like the malls one could shop at.
Like the jogging track, if there was one near you, or just the roads that one could walk on or jog on.
Like the music one could listen to, or the DVDs one could watch.
Like the coffee shops and ice-cream parlours.
Like board games like Monopoly and Scrabble and Pictionary and Jenga that one could play.
Like the books and magazines one could read.
Like the gym one could visit.
If the consumer is doing any of these during ‘Prime Time’, the activity is competition to the channel.
And the frightening part is, of all these activities, only television viewing is measurable and measured.
