Dayparting
Encyclopedia
Day
A day is a unit of time, commonly defined as an interval equal to 24 hours. It also can mean that portion of the full day during which a location is illuminated by the light of the sun...
into several parts, during each of which a different type of radio programming
Radio programming
Radio programming is the Broadcast programming of a Radio format or content that is organized for Commercial broadcasting and Public broadcasting radio stations....
or television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
ming apropos for that time is aired. Television programs are most often geared toward a particular demographic, and what the target audience
Audience
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...
typically engages in at that time.
Dayparts on radio
ArbitronArbitron
Arbitron is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with L.A. based Coffin, Cooper and Clay in the early 1950s...
, the leading audience measurement
Audience measurement
Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites...
ratings
Ratings (broadcast)
Ratings is a term used to describe the methods used by radio, cable and terrestrial television programming measure their performance. Ratings are collated using audience measurement.-Mechanisms for Calculating Ratings :...
service in the United States, divides a weekday into five dayparts: morning drive time
Drive time
Drive time is the daypart analog to prime time for radio broadcasting. It consists of the morning hours when listeners wake up, get ready, and/or head to work or school, and the afternoon hours when they are heading home and before their evening meal. These are the periods where the number of...
(6:00am-9:30am), midday (10:00am-2:30pm), afternoon drive (3:00pm-6:30pm), evenings (7:00pm-12:30am), and overnight (1:00am-5:30am; Arbitron generally does not measure during this time period).
In radio broadcasting through most of the 1990s, dayparting was also used for censorship purposes. To wit, in many cases if a certain song was deemed too offensive to most listeners, the song in question would only be allowed airplay during the late evening or overnight hours. Even today, the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
dictates less stringent decency requirements for programming aired between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am local time.
The drive time
Drive time
Drive time is the daypart analog to prime time for radio broadcasting. It consists of the morning hours when listeners wake up, get ready, and/or head to work or school, and the afternoon hours when they are heading home and before their evening meal. These are the periods where the number of...
dayparts coincide with rush hour
Rush hour
A rush hour or peak hour is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice a day—once in the morning and once in the evening, the times during when the most people commute...
; these dayparts are traditionally the most listened-to portions of the schedule, since these are the times when most people are in their cars, where radios
Car audio
Car audio/video , auto radio, mobile audio, 12-volt and other terms are used to describe the sound or video system fitted in an automobile. While 12-volt audio and video systems are also used, marketed, or manufactured for marine, aviation, and buses, this article focuses on cars as the most common...
remain nearly ubiquitous. Most stations (both talk and music) have local programming in one or both drive time slots. The midday, or "at work" slot, has in recent years become particularly prone to voice tracking, as large station ownership groups cut costs and use supposedly local jocks at multiple stations (often in different time zones). Music stations often are careful not to repeat songs during the midday shift, as they generally have a captive audience, and will often use "9 to 5 No Repeat Workdays" and all-request or specialty lunch hours to lure listeners and air a broader variety of music. Evenings are a popular time for syndicated programs, while overnights are generally automated, either with or without a voice-tracked jock, though there are a few niche programs that target special audiences in the overnight and early-morning hours (America's Trucking Network
America's Trucking Network
"Steve Sommers" redirects here. Not to be confused with Steve Somers, a New York radio host.America's Trucking Network is a nightly terrestrial and satellite radio broadcast based in Cincinnati, Ohio that was formerly syndicated across the United States...
, Midnight Trucking Radio Network, and the National Farm Report
Orion Samuelson
Orion "The Big O" Samuelson is an American broadcaster, most widely known for hosting U.S. Farm Report. He was inducted in to the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2003.-Biography:...
among them). On weekends, music stations often air syndicated programming, without regard to time slots (though Saturday nights often remain live with either local or syndicated hosts, especially on oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
and country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
stations, to take requests) and talk stations air niche network shows or brokered programming
Brokered programming
Brokered programming is a form of broadcast content in which the show's producer pays a radio or television station for air time, rather than exchanging programming for pay or the opportunity to play spot commercials...
. Religious programming often airs on Sunday mornings.
In talk radio, where voice tracking is impossible and broadcast syndication is live and national, these lines blur somewhat. The Rush Limbaugh Show
The Rush Limbaugh Show
The Rush Limbaugh Show is an American talk radio show hosted by Rush Limbaugh on Premiere Radio Networks...
airs in a time slot that is in midday in all time zones, but other than that and overnight shows such as Coast to Coast AM
Coast to Coast AM
Coast to Coast AM is a North American late-night syndicated radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics, but most frequently ones that relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was created by Art Bell and is distributed by Premiere Radio Networks. The program currently...
, a show that airs in the Pacific time zone's afternoon drive time (for instance, The Savage Nation
The Savage Nation
The Savage Nation is an American radio show hosted by conservative commentator Michael Savage on Talk Radio Network. His show is heard by 8-10 million listeners a week and syndicated across the U.S. in over 300 markets, making it the 3rd most listened to radio show in the country...
) would fall into a less-listened to evening time slot on the East Coast. Similarly, a show that is in early middays on the East Coast (such as the Glenn Beck Program
Glenn Beck Program
The Glenn Beck Program is an American talk radio show hosted by commentator Glenn Beck on Premiere Radio Networks. Since its inception as a nationally syndicated show in 2002, the program has become one of the highest rated radio programs...
) would be in morning drive on the West Coast, and may not live up to the expectations of listeners expecting local, informative content. The general solution for this problem is to tape-delay programming to fit schedules.
Dayparts on television
On TV, like on radio, the day is divided into similar dayparts, although the times have been blurred somewhat. Breakfast televisionBreakfast television
Breakfast television or morning show , is a type of infotainment television program, broadcast live in the morning...
air between 7-10 am; on network television, these are usually long-form news programs featuring entertainment, light fare, and features aimed toward women. Until the 1970s or so, children's programming such as Captain Kangaroo
Captain Kangaroo
Captain Kangaroo is a children's television series which aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for nearly 30 years, from October 3, 1955 until December 8, 1984, making it the longest-running children's television program of its day...
aired in this time slot (since that time, however, the school day has come earlier, making such programs less viable). After breakfast comes daytime television
Daytime television
Daytime television is the general term for television shows produced that are intended to air during the daytime hours on weekdays. This article is about American daytime television, for information about international daytime television see Daytime television....
, which, like the previous daypart, targets women (and also notably college students), particularly older retirees and the ever-shrinking base of stay-at-home moms and housewives; the soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
, tabloid talk show
Tabloid talk show
Tabloid talk shows are a genre of American television programming talk shows that achieved peak viewership during the late 20th century. Airing mostly during the day and distributed mostly through broadcast syndication, this genre originated with The Phil Donahue Show and was popularized by the...
and (much more rarely since the 1990s) the game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
are popular genres in this daypart. A local noon newscast also airs during the noon hour on most stations as well (if so the case).
The later part of the daytime slot can sometimes be targeted for children and teenagers who come home from school. The U.S. networks Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
and The WB
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
had children's blocks in the late 1990s, and even prior to that, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
's Match Game
Match Game
Match Game is an American television game show in which contestants attempted to match celebrities' answers to fill-in-the-blank questions...
exploited this audience to set ratings records in the 1970s. The United Kingdom's Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
has also had consistent success with late-afternoon game shows; Countdown
Countdown (game show)
Countdown is a British game show involving word and number puzzles. It is produced by ITV Studios and broadcast on Channel 4. It is presented by Jeff Stelling, assisted by Rachel Riley, with regular lexicographer Susie Dent. It was the first programme to be aired on Channel 4, and over sixty-five...
, airing daily since the network's launch, has been one of the network's popular programmes.
From 5-7 pm, newscasts are usually shown on most television stations. Local news is usually coupled with a half-hour network newscast and possibly a syndicated news program. Unlike morning news shows, these are more generally targeted programs and feature more hard news stories. Stations on minor networks usually air syndicated sitcom reruns or continue daytime programming during this daypart. Following the news, prime time
Prime time
Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
begins with what is usually referred to as the "access period" (after former legislation in the United States
Prime Time Access Rule
The Prime Time Access Rule was instituted by the Federal Communications Commission in 1970 to restrict the amount of network broadcast programming that a local television station, Owned-and-operated station by or affiliated with a television network may air during "prime time"...
which previously required networks to not show networked programming in that hour). In the United States, two game shows, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
have dominated this time slot since the 1980s, and they usually compete with syndicated entertainment newsmagazines. Additional local newscasts have become increasingly popular in this time slot.
Prime time
Prime time
Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
is the highest profile of television dayparts, from 7 or 8pm to 10 or 11pm, depending on the network and time zone. The highest rated programs on television often air during prime time, and almost all scripted programming (except soap operas) air during the prime time slots. Usually the main reason for the high profile of prime time television is due to the fact that many people who come home from work and school tend to watch TV more than any other activity. Following prime time, late newscasts often air, followed by late night television
Late night television
Late night television in the United States is the block of television programming airing after 11:00 pm and usually through 2:00 am. Traditionally, this type of programming airs after the late local news and is most notable for being the daypart used for a particular genre of programming that falls...
. Late-night shows are predominantly targeted toward younger male audiences (also college students and people who suffer insomnia
Insomnia
Insomnia is most often defined by an individual's report of sleeping difficulties. While the term is sometimes used in sleep literature to describe a disorder demonstrated by polysomnographic evidence of disturbed sleep, insomnia is often defined as a positive response to either of two questions:...
are a large audience of late night TV) and feature a common format of a male host delivering a stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...
routine, several guests, and a house band. After the late night shows, programming varies. Some stations may sign-off for the night, air infomercials, or air reruns of other programming. In some countries, programming aimed at adult audiences may also air during the late night hours, such as softcore pornography (in the United States, a handful of cable television channels such as Cinemax
Cinemax
Cinemax, sometimes abbreviated as simply "Max", is a collection of premium television networks that broadcasts primarily feature films, along with softcore erotica, original action series, documentaries and special behind-the-scenes features. Cinemax is operated by Home Box Office, Inc., a...
have used this practice, but this is forbidden on American broadcast television).
In North America, Friday nights are often considered the "death slot
Friday night death slot
The Friday night death slot is a perceived graveyard slot in American television, referring to the concept that a television program in the United States scheduled on Friday evenings is destined for imminent cancellation....
", due to the concept that many shows scheduled on or moved to Friday nights would not last long before cancellation due to low ratings. Some shows have achieved success on Fridays even with the notion of the death slot. Other "death slots" include Saturday nights, the 12:00 noon and 4:00 p.m. weekday time slots (at least during the 1980s; both time slots have since been abandoned by all networks and given to local news or syndication), and the time slot or slots immediately opposite popular shows such as American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
or the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
(see also Super Bowl counterprogramming
Super Bowl counterprogramming
Although it is consistently one of the most watched sports television events in the United States, television networks and television stations channels have often attempted to counterprogram against the Super Bowl with original television programming...
). The phenomenon of fewer viewers on Friday and Saturday is in part because most people (particularly younger viewers that advertisers seek) are usually not home to watch TV on Friday and Saturday nights, and as a result, programs that air during this time are usually low rated. However, some cable channels aimed at teen or pre-teen audiences, such as Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
and Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
, have been successful with original programs that they commonly air in the perceived Friday and Saturday night death slots; Nickelodeon in particular, has aired first-run programs in Saturday primetime since 1992 with the creation of the SNICK
SNICK
SNICK was a two-hour programming block on the American cable television network Nickelodeon, geared toward general audiences, that ran from August 15, 1992 until August 28, 2004. It was aired on Saturdays starting at 8 p.m and ending at 10 p.m. ET. In 2004, SNICK was revamped as the Saturday night...
block (later renamed TEENick
TEENick
TEENick was a teen-oriented television programming block that aired on Nickelodeon. The block launched on 2001 and lasted until February 2, 2009. TEENick aired on Sunday nights from 6-9 p.m. ET/PT and, beginning in 2004, began to also air on Saturday nights from 8-10 p.m. ET/PT...
from 2004 to 2009).
Weekends have a slightly different setup than weekdays. On Saturdays, morning shows share time with the Saturday morning cartoon
Saturday morning cartoon
A Saturday morning cartoon is the colloquial term for the animated television programming that has typically been scheduled on Saturday mornings on the major American television networks from the 1960s to the present; the genre's peak in popularity mostly ended in the 1990s while the popularity of...
, where the networks usually fulfill federally-mandated regulations in some countries requiring the airing of educational or children's shows (such as in the United States
E/I
E/I, which stands for "educational and informative," refers to a type of children's television programming shown in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission requires that every full-service Terrestrial television station in the U.S. show at least three hours of these television...
, where at least 3 hours of this programming must air weekly across all television stations). Weekend afternoons often feature sporting events of varying degrees. During the fall, ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
all broadcast football, NBA and college basketball occurs on ABC and CBS during the winter and spring. Golf (all networks except FOX), auto racing (ABC and FOX for NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
, though other networks sometimes air open-wheel circuits) and baseball (FOX) occur during the summer; in addition, sports anthology series such as the CBS Sports Spectacular
CBS Sports Spectacular
CBS Sports Spectacular is a sports anthology program produced by CBS Sports. The series began on January 3, 1960 as The CBS Sports Spectacular, and has been known under many different names, including CBS Sports Saturday, CBS Sports Sunday, Eye on Sports and The CBS Sports Show.The program...
, Canada's CBC Sports
CBC Sports
CBC Sports is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for English-language sports broadcasting. The CBC's sports programming primarily airs on CBC Television, with some additional broadcasts on bold, CBC.ca, and occasionally CBC Radio One...
Saturday and ABC's Wide World of Sports broadcast a broad variety of lesser-known sports. Most stations also find time when sports is not airing to air large blocks of infomercial
Infomercial
Infomercials are direct response television commercials which generally include a phone number or website. There are long-form infomercials, which are typically between 15 and 30 minutes in length, and short-form infomercials, which are typically 30 seconds to 120 seconds in length. Infomercials...
s during this time slot.
Prime time programming on Saturday nights vary by country. In Europe, Saturday night prime time is usually devoted to entertainment programming such as reality talent shows such as The X Factor
The X Factor (UK)
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. Created by Simon Cowell, it began in September 2004 and is contested by aspiring singers drawn from public auditions. It is the originator of the international X Factor franchise. The seven series of the show to date...
on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
and Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing is a British television show, featuring celebrities with professional dance partners competing in Ballroom and Latin dances. The title of the show suggests a continuation of the long-running series Come Dancing, with an allusion to the film Strictly Ballroom...
on BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in the United Kingdom or drama television shows such as Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
on BBC and Primeval
Primeval
Primeval or primæval may refer to:* Primeval, a British science fiction television series.* Primeval , a 2007 film* Primeval , a score of music from the BBC TV series Doctor Who...
on ITV. In North America, with the exception of Univision
Univision
Univision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish language television viewers according to Nielsen ratings. Randy Falco, COO, has been in charge of the company since the departure of Univision Communications president and CEO Joe Uva...
's Sabado Gigante
Sábado Gigante
Sábado Gigante is a Spanish-language television show that is Univision's longest-running program and the longest-running variety TV show in the world. Sábado Gigante is an eclectic and frenetic mix of various contests, human-interest stories, and live entertainment...
, not many new programs air on Saturday nights, focusing more on movies, reruns, and sometimes locally produced sporting events. In Canada, the CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
historically airs Saturday night NHL hockey
Hockey
Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
nationally under the title Hockey Night in Canada
Hockey Night in Canada
Hockey Night in Canada is the branding used for CBC Sports' presentations of the National Hockey League...
, dating back to the early days of radio.
In the US, late night programming on Saturday features one prominent sketch comedy
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
show, Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, while other stations carry syndicated reruns. Sunday mornings, often known as the graveyard slot
Graveyard slot
A graveyard slot is a time period in which a television audience is very small compared to other times of the day, and therefore broadcast programming is considered far less important. Graveyard slots are usually in the early morning hours of each day, when most people are asleep...
(particularly very early on Sunday morning) feature more morning shows, public affairs programming designed for very small audiences, more infomercial
Infomercial
Infomercials are direct response television commercials which generally include a phone number or website. There are long-form infomercials, which are typically between 15 and 30 minutes in length, and short-form infomercials, which are typically 30 seconds to 120 seconds in length. Infomercials...
s, televangelism
Televangelism
Televangelism is the use of television to communicate the Christian faith. The word is a portmanteau of television and evangelism and was coined by Time magazine. A “televangelist” is a Christian minister who devotes a large portion of his ministry to television broadcasting...
, and a series of influential political interview programs known as the Sunday morning talk shows. Sunday evening is generally treated as a regular weeknight, with popular prime time programs airing. No network programming currently airs in the Sunday late night slot.
Australia
In AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, dayparting is not as complex. Breakfast television is generally seen as 6:00am - 9:00am, although since 2010 two of the three networks introduced news from 5:00am. Morning television involves a news bulliten and a 'light news/talk' show, featuring advertorials. Daytime television overlaps morning, considered from 9:00am to 6:00pm, features imported daytime programs from the US, such as Oprah
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
, The View and Judge Judy
Judge Judy
Judge Judy is an American court show featuring former family court judge Judith Sheindlin arbitrating over small claims cases in small claims court...
. Only two US soaps are seen (Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...
and The Bold and the Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS Daytime. It premiered on March 23, 1987....
), though more are available on subscription television. Various repeated shows and movies are also run.
The early fringe occurs in the late afternoon / early evening, from 4:00pm to 7:30pm, with children's programming in the early part, as well as afternoon and evening news and public affairs shows at 4:30pm, 5:00pm, 6:00pm and 6:30pm depending on the channel. Locally produced game shows Deal Or No Deal
Deal or No Deal
Deal or No Deal is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which was the Dutch Miljoenenjacht produced by Dutch producer Endemol. It is played with up to 26 cases with certain sums of money...
and Hot Seat
Millionaire Hot Seat
Hot Seat is a spin-off of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire that began airing on Australia's Nine Network on 20 April 2009, and is hosted by Eddie McGuire, as with the original version of the show...
air at 5:30pm across two channels. At 7:00pm, one channel airs repeats of US sitcoms, while another airs an Australian soap Home And Away
Home and Away
Home and Away is an Australian soap opera that has been produced in Sydney since July 1987 and is airing on the Seven Network since 17 January 1988. It is the second-longest-running drama and most popular soap opera on Australian television...
and the third airs a light news/talk show.
Primetime is officially (ie. primetime ratings figures) from 6:00pm until midnight, however the peak audiences are between 6:00pm and 10:30pm. Primetime programming is advertised as starting from 7:30pm, with a more family friendly program airing during this time, until classification restrictions allow for racier content from 8:30pm. There is a small audience drop off at 9:30pm, and a significant audience drop off after 10:30pm, with not much promotion given to show airing after this time. Local late news only airs on one of the three networks. Thus, the late fringe occurs from 10:30pm to around 12:30am, depending on the program which proceeds it.
Overnight occurs anywhere from midnight to 5am, and features mostly reruns, home shopping advertorials and religious programs. From around 4am until local news resumes, the three networks air the three US breakfast shows (Today, GMA
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
and CBS Early Show) in a cutdown format. The US Today show is retitled NBC Today in Australia, to avoid confusion with the Australian program of the same name, which airs on another network than US show.
Daily variations
There are some variations to dayparting based on the day. The highest ratings are achieved in primetime on Sunday to Thursday, although the early fringe holds lifestyle shows before the news instead of game shows. Friday and Saturday primetime, much like the US, has lower audience numbers due to the fact younger audiences are not at home watching television. Friday nights feature live AFLAustralian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
and NRL matches, as well as lesser popular series or movies, although lifestyle series Better Homes and Gardens has proved popular on Friday nights airing before live sport. Saturday nights are dedicated to either family movies or programming for older audiences, such as movies or series such as Heartbeat or A Touch of Frost. AFL also airs on Saturday nights.
Friday and Saturday nights are the almost the only times when programming differs between states, due to the differing popularity of sports interstate. AFL is only broadcast live in Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
and Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, while the NRL is only shown in the other states live.
Weekend daytime is also very different, with the exception of sport and weekend breakfast programs, there are no regular programs.
Timetable
| Daypart (Weekday) | US (EST) | UK (GMT) | AUS (AEST) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early morning Breakfast television Breakfast television or morning show , is a type of infotainment television program, broadcast live in the morning... |
6:00 AM – 10:00 AM | 7:00 AM – 9:30 AM | 6:00 AM - 9:00 AM |
| Daytime Daytime television Daytime television is the general term for television shows produced that are intended to air during the daytime hours on weekdays. This article is about American daytime television, for information about international daytime television see Daytime television.... |
10:00 AM – 4:30 PM | 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM | 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM |
| Late morning | 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM | |
| Early fringe Fringe Fringe may refer to* Fringe , that part of the hair overhanging the forehead, also known as bangs in American English* Fringe , an ornamental appendage to the border of an item* Fringe , a U.S... |
4:30 PM – 7:30 PM | None | 4:30 PM - 7:30 PM |
| Lunchtime news | Varies by station | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM | None |
| Early afternoon | 10:00 AM – 4:30 PM (Part of Daytime DAYTIME The Daytime Protocol is a service in the Internet Protocol Suite, defined in 1983 in RFC 867. It is intended for testing and measurement purposes in computer networks.... in US) |
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM | 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM |
| Late afternoon | 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM | ||
| Early evening | 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM | 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM | |
| Evening news Evening News Evening News may refer to:In television news:*CBS Evening News, an American news broadcast*ITV Evening News, a UK news broadcast*JNN Evening News, a Japanese news broadcastIn newspapers:... |
6:30 PM - 7:00 PM | 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM | |
| Local prime time Prime Time Access Rule The Prime Time Access Rule was instituted by the Federal Communications Commission in 1970 to restrict the amount of network broadcast programming that a local television station, Owned-and-operated station by or affiliated with a television network may air during "prime time"... |
7:30 PM – 8:00 PM | None | |
| National prime time Prime time Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast... |
8:00 PM – 11:00 PM | 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM | 6:00 PM - 10:30 PM |
| Late news | 11:00 PM – 11:30 PM | 10:00 PM – 11:00 PM | None |
| Late night Late night television Late night television in the United States is the block of television programming airing after 11:00 pm and usually through 2:00 am. Traditionally, this type of programming airs after the late local news and is most notable for being the daypart used for a particular genre of programming that falls... |
11:30 PM – 1:00 AM | 11:00 PM – 1:00 AM | 10:30 PM - 12:30 AM |
| Postnight fringe | 1:00 AM – 2:30 AM | 1:00 AM - 3:30 AM | |
| Closedown | 2:30 AM – 6:00 AM | 3:30 AM - 6:00 AM | |