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Prime time, or peak time, is the block of
broadcast programming Broadcast programming is the practice of organizing or ordering (scheduling) of broadcast media shows, typically radio and television, in a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or season-long schedule. Modern broadcasters use broadcast autom ...
taking place during the middle of the evening for
television show A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...
s. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major
television networks A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or ...
to broadcast their season's nightly programming. The term ''prime-time'' is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example (in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
), from 8:00p.m. to 11:00p.m. ( Eastern and
Pacific Time The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00). ...
) or 7:00p.m. to 10:00p.m. ( Central and Mountain Time). In
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
and some Middle Eastern countries, prime time consists of programmes that are aired on television between 8:00p.m. and 10:00p.m. local time.


Asia


Bangladesh

In
Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...
, the 19:00-to-22:00 time slot is known as prime time. Several national broadcasters, like Maasranga Television, Gazi TV, Channel 9, and Channel i, broadcast their prime-time shows from 20:00 to 23:00 after their primetime news at 19:00. During Islamic holidays, most of the television stations broadcast their specially-produced shows and world television premieres starting from 15:00 to midnight. During
Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...
, the broadcasters also air special religious and cooking shows starting from 14:00 to 20:00. affecting the primetime hours. Late-night talk shows are also aired from 01:00 to 04:00, except during Ramadan. Religious shows are also broadcast simultaneously from 01:00, along with
talk show A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (201 ...
s and news analysis.


China

In
television in China The television industry in China includes high-tech program production, transmission and coverage. China Central Television is China's largest state-run national television broadcaster. By 1987, two-thirds of people in China had access to tele ...
, the 19:00-to-22:00 time slot is known as Golden Time (
Traditional Chinese A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examp ...
: 黄金時間;
Simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one that is simpler (usually shorter), according to a well-founded ordering. Examples include: ...
: 黄金时间;
Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...
: Huángjīn shíjiān). The term also influenced a nickname of a strip of holidays, known as Golden Week.


Hong Kong and Macau

Prime time usually takes place from 19:00 until 22:00. After that, programs classified as "PG" (Parental Guidance) are allowed to be broadcast. Frontline dramas appear during this time slot in
Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...
, as well as movies in English.


India

In
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, prime time occurs between 20:00 and 23:30. Usually, programmes during prime time are domestic dramas, talent shows and reality shows.


Indonesia

Prime time usually takes place from 16:00 to 0:00 in Indonesian time zones, and sinetrons (
soap operas A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originated from radio dramas original ...
) dominate majority of the programming schedules. Before 2018, daily evening newscasts would kick off primetime between 17:00 and 18:00, although some channels, notably SCTV, broadcast their daily evening newscasts earlier, usually at 16:00 or 16:30. The practice of airing news at primetime ended in 2018 in favor of adding more sinetrons to the schedule, except for TVRI, which have kept their newscasts, ''Klik Indonesia Petang'' (at 18:00) on primetime respectively. After prime time, programs classified as Adult, as well as Adult products (generally
cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into Rolling paper, thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhale ...
) commercials, may be aired. Like other Muslim-majority nations, there is also a "midnight prime time" during
suhur ''Suhur'', ''sahur'' or ''sahoor'' (; ), also called ''sahari'', ''sahri'', or ''sehri'' (), is the meal consumed early in the morning by Muslims before fasting ( sawm), before dawn during or outside the Islamic month of Ramadan. The meal is eat ...
while the month of
Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...
is commencing. It takes place from 02:00 (or 02:30 in some channels) and ends at the
Fajr prayer The fajr prayer, alternatively transliterated as fadjr prayer, and also known as the subh prayer, is a salah (ritual prayer) offered in the early morning. Consisting of two rak'a ("bows"), it is performed between the break of dawn and sunrise. ...
call, which varies in timing between 04:30 and 05:00. The time slot is usually filled with entertainment and religious programming.


Iraq

In
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
, prime time runs from 20:00 to 23:00. The main
news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...
programs are broadcast at 20:00 and the highest-rated television program airs at 21:00.


Japan

In Japanese television, prime time runs from 19:00 to 23:00. Especially, the 19:00-to-22:00 time slot is also known as . The term also influenced a nickname of a strip of holidays in
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
known as Golden Week.


Malaysia

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
prime time starts with the main news from 20:00 to 20:30 (now 20:00 to 21:00) and ends either at 23:00 or 1:00, or possibly later. Usually, programmes during prime time are domestic dramas, foreign drama series (mostly American), films, and entertainment programmes. Programmes classified as 18 are not allowed to be broadcast before 10:00 p.m., but on
Radio Televisyen Malaysia Radio Televisyen Malaysia (, Jawi: ; abbreviated as RTM, stylised as rtm), also known as the Department of Broadcasting, Malaysia (; Jawi: ) is the national public broadcaster of Malaysia, headquartered at Angkasapuri, Kuala Lumpur. Establi ...
, most programmes on this slot are rated U (U means ''Umum'' in Malay and literally General Viewing or General Audiences in English) throughout the whole day. However, programmes broadcast after 23:00 are still considered prime time. As of 2019,
NTV7 Natseven TV Sdn Bhd, operating as NTV7 is a Malaysian free-to-air television channel owned by Media Prima, Media Prima Berhad. The third private commercial TV station in Malaysia, the network focused on the urban area with various types of ...
's prime time continues until 12:00 a.m. Programmes during prime time may have longer commercial breaks due to the number of viewers. Some domestic prime-time productions may be affected because of certain major sporting events such as
FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...
. However, only FIFA World Cup held in the
Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...
do not affect the domestic prime-time programmes but only during daytime.


Pakistan

In
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
, prime time is from 19:00 to 00:00
Pakistan Standard Time Pakistan Standard Time (, abbreviated as PKT) is UTC+05:00 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. The time zone is in use during standard time in Asia. History Present day Pakistan had been following UTC+05:30 since 1907 (during the Britis ...
. During this time the majority of the local channels broadcast their most popular shows. However, state channels broadcast Khabarnama (New Bulletin) from past many decades. Like other Muslim-majority nations, during
Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...
, the broadcasters also air special religious and cooking shows starting from 14:00 to 19:00/19:30 with "Ramadan" special programs airing from 19:30/20:00 to 21:30/22:00 affecting the primetime hours for some channels. There is also a "midnight prime time" during
suhur ''Suhur'', ''sahur'' or ''sahoor'' (; ), also called ''sahari'', ''sahri'', or ''sehri'' (), is the meal consumed early in the morning by Muslims before fasting ( sawm), before dawn during or outside the Islamic month of Ramadan. The meal is eat ...
while the month of
Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...
is commencing. It takes place from 02:00 (or 01:45 in some channels) and ends at the
Fajr prayer The fajr prayer, alternatively transliterated as fadjr prayer, and also known as the subh prayer, is a salah (ritual prayer) offered in the early morning. Consisting of two rak'a ("bows"), it is performed between the break of dawn and sunrise. ...
call, which varies in timing between 04:30 and 05:00. Also, during other Islamic events such as
Muharram Al-Muharram () is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year when warfare is banned. It precedes the month of Safar. The tenth of Muharram is known as Ashura, an important day of commemoration in ...
and
Rabi' al-Awwal Rabiʽ al-Awwal (, also known as Rabi' al-Ula (), or Rabi' I) is the third month of the Islamic calendar. The name ''Rabī‘ al-awwal'' means "''the first month'' or ''beginning of Spring (season), spring''", referring to its position in the ...
, some channels broadcast religious shows during day/evening time slots (between 12:00 and 19:00—time varies on channel) or late-night slot (from 22:00).


Philippines

In the
Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
, prime-time blocks usually run from 17:00 to 23:00 on weekdays, and 17:30 to 23:30 on weekends. The weekday prime-time blocks usually consists of local
Philippine television drama Philippine television drama, also known as ''teleserye'' is a form of melodramatic, serialized, televised fiction in the Philippines. ''Teleserye'' is derived from two Filipino words: "tele", short for "''telebisyón''" (television), and "''se ...
(soap operas) and foreign television series. The network's highest-rated programs are usually aired right after the evening newscast at 18:30 or 20:00, while a foreign series (usually a
Korean Drama Korean drama (), also known as K-drama or Koreanovela, refers to Korean language, Korean-language television shows made in South Korea. These shows began to be produced around the early 1960s, but were mostly consumed domestically until the rise ...
) usually airs before the evening newscast or precedes the late night newscast. On weekends, non-scripted programming such as
comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
series, talent shows,
reality shows Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...
and current affairs shows air in prime time. For the minor networks, prime time consists of American television series on weekdays, with encores of those shows on weekends. Prime time originally started earlier at around 19:00, but the evening newscasts were lengthened to 90 minutes and now start at 18:30, instead of the original one-hour newscast that starts at 18:00.


Singapore

In
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
, prime time begins at 18:00 on Channel 5, 18:30 on Channel 8 and 19:00 on Channel U, CNA, Suria, Vasantham. which are also the main (
Free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...
) television channels in Singapore. On Channel 8, prime time ends at midnight or 0:15 on weekdays, at 0:30 on Saturday nights, and at 23:30 on Sunday nights. On Channel 5, prime time ends at 0:00 on weekdays, at 1:30 (or later) on Saturday nights, and at 0:30 on Sunday nights. On Suria, prime time ends at 22:30 on Monday to Thursday nights, 23:30 on Friday nights, 23:00 on weekends, and at 00:30 or 01:00 on eve and actual days of public holidays. On Vasantham, prime time ends at 23:00 on Mondays to Thursdays, midnight (or later) on Friday and Saturday nights, and at 23:30 on Sunday nights. On Channel NewsAsia, prime time ends at 23:01, immediately after the news headlines, seven days a week; on Channel U, prime time ends at 23:00 seven days a week. Generally, however, prime time is considered to be from 18:00 to 00:00.


South Korea

In
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
, prime time usually runs from 19:30 to 23:00 during weekdays, while on Saturdays and Sundays, it runs from 18:00 to 23:00. Family-oriented television shows are broadcast before 22:00, and adult-oriented television shows air after 22:00.


Taiwan

In
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
, prime time (called ''bādiǎn dàng''—八點檔—in
Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...
, literally eight o'clock slot) starts at 8 p.m..
Taiwanese drama Taiwanese drama (, also known as T.W. drama) refer to dramatic programming of television programming extended stories usually dramatizing relationships through the general range of ten to forty one-hour episodes. They are produced in Taiwan and ha ...
series played then are called 8 o'clock series and are expected to have high viewer ratings. Also, the evening news usually start from 18:00 or 19:00.


Thailand

In
Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
, prime time dramas (ละคร; lakhon) air from 20:30 to 22:30. Most dramas are
soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...
s. Prime time dramas are popular and influential to Thai society.


Vietnam

In
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
, prime time is also known as Golden Time ( Vietnamese: ''Giờ vàng''). Prime time starts at 18:00 in the evening and ends at 22:00.


Europe


Austria

In
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, prime time usually starts at 20:15 after the news broadcast of ORF 1. Even though ORF2 has its news from 19:30 to 20:00, they also start broadcasting prime time content at 20:15. The same applies for nearly all channels seated in Austria or
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
that are broadcast in Austria.


Bosnia and Herzegovina

In
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
, prime time starts at 20:00 and finishes at 22:00. It is preceded by a daily newscast (''Dnevnik'') at 19:00 and followed by a late night newscast (''Vijesti'') at 22:00.


Bulgaria

In
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
, prime time starts at 20:00 every day (including weekends). Usually, the programmes aired are Bulgarian or Turkish series and reality shows, followed by a late newscast. The
Bulgarian National Television The Bulgarian National Television ( Bulgarian: Българска национална телевизия, ''Balgarska natsionalna televizia'') or BNT (БНТ), stylized as ·Б·Н·Т· since 2018, is a public television broadcaster of Bulgaria ...
broadcasts ''Po Sveta i u Nas'' at 20:00 and shows cultural and political programmes from 21:00 to 22:00, with series and late-night news following at 23:00.


Croatia

In
Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
, prime time starts between 20:00 and 20:15. Croatian public broadcaster
Hrvatska radiotelevizija ''Hrvatska radiotelevizija'' ( HRT), or Croatian Radiotelevision, is a Croatian public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite. HRT is divided into three ...
broadcasts a daily newscast from 19:00 to 20:00. Also, many private broadcasters have daily newscasts either before or after the HTY newscast, at around 20.05, followed by the start of their own prime time. Many broadcasters without daily newscasts start their prime time at 20:00. Prime time generally ends between 22:00 and 23:00, followed by the late night edition of the network newscast and adult-oriented programming.


Denmark

In
Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
, prime time starts at 20:00.


Finland

In
Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
, prime time starts at 21:00. It is preceded by a daily newscast at 20:30.


France

In
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
prime time starts at 21:10 (20:35 in the 1980s, 20:50 in the 1990s and 2000s, 21:05 in the 2010s).


Georgia

In
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
, prime time starts between 18:45 and 20:00 and generally ends at midnight. However, on Friday night / Saturday morning, prime time usually continues until 1:00.


Germany

At 20:00 each evening,
Das Erste Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD (broadcaster), ARD association of public broadcasting corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the ARD (broadcaster)#Institutions and member org ...
(The First),
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
's oldest public television network, airs the country's most-watched news broadcast, the main edition of the '' Tagesschau'', which is also simulcast on most of its other specialist and regional channels (The Third). The conclusion of the bulletin 15 minutes later marks the beginning of prime time, as it has since the 1950s. In consequence, most other channels—public and private alike—also choose to start their prime time at 20:15. In the 1990s, the commercial channel Sat.1 suffered a significant loss of audience share when it tried moving the start of its prime time to 20:00.


Greece

In
Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
, prime time runs from 21:00 (usually following the news) to midnight.


Hungary

In
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
, prime time on weekdays on the two big commercial stations ( RTL and TV2) starts at 19:00 with game shows, tabloid, and docu-reality programmes. At 21:00, two popular soap operas air: ''Barátok közt'' and ''Jóban Rosszban'', which follows at 21:30. American and other series, movies, talk-shows, and magazines run until 23:30. The prime-time lineup is preceded by daily news programmes at 18:30. At weekends, prime time begins at 19:00, with blockbuster movies and television shows. Before 15 March 2015, the public television station M1 began its prime time with a game show at 18:30, which was followed by the daily news programme ''Híradó'' at 19:30. After the news, the channel broadcast American and other series, talk shows, magazines, and news programmes until 22:00, after which came the daily news magazine ''Este'' and the late edition of ''Híradó''. From 15 March 2015, Duna began broadcasting all of the entertainment programming transferred to it from that date from M1, meaning that prime time on Duna now begins at 18:00, starting with the simulcast of the 18:00 edition of Híradó from the newly re-launched news channel, M1.


Iceland

In
Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
, prime time starts at 19:30. It is preceded by a daily newscast at 19:00.


Ireland

In
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
, prime starts at 18:30 and ends at 22:00.


Italy

In
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, prime time (called "prima serata") starts between 21:00 and 21:45 (main channels, including RTV) and ends between 23:30 and 00:30. On Friday and Saturday night, some shows last until 06:30–07:00. It usually follows news and, on some networks (like
Rai 1 Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship television channel and is known for broadcasting ...
and
Canale 5 Canale 5 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel of Mediaset, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It was the first private television network to have national coverage in Italy in 1980. On 4 December 2012, Mediaset launched Canale 5 HD, a ...
), a slot called "access prime time". Shows, movies, and sport events are usually shown during prime time.


Netherlands

Much like in Germany, prime time in the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
usually begins at 20:30 in order to not compete with Nederlanse Omroep Stichting's flagship 20:00 newscast.


Norway

In
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
, prime time starts at 19:45. On the
NRK1 NRK1 (pronounced as ''"NRK en"'' or ''"- ein"'') is the main television channel of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). History Test broadcasts started on 12 January 1954, regular test broadcasts began on 13 April 1958, and regular bro ...
channel it is preceded by the daily newscast '' Dagsrevyen'' at 19:00. Locally, prime time is called ().


Poland

In
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
, prime time starts around 20:00 (sometimes 20:30). On
TVP1 TVP1 (TVP Jeden, ''Telewizja Polska 1'', ''Program Pierwszy Telewizji Polskiej'', ''"Jedynka"'') is the main public television channel of Telewizja Polska, TVP (Telewizja Polska S.A.), Poland's national television broadcaster. It was the first Po ...
, it is preceded by a daily newscast at 19:30. On TVN, the newscast is aired at 19:00, followed by the newsmagazine ''Uwaga'' at 19:50 (weekdays) or 19:45 (weekends), and then the soap opera ''
Na Wspólnej ''Na Wspólnej'' (, "On Wspólna Street") is a Polish television soap opera. It has been running since 2003 on the TVN channel as its flagship primetime weekday soap opera. It is loosely based on the German production '' Unter uns'' and it fol ...
'' at 20:05 (Monday to Thursday) or 20:00 (Friday to Sunday), various movies on Fridays, serials or films (winter and summer) on Saturdays, and programmes or films (winter and summer) on Sundays. On
Polsat Polsat is a Polish free-to-air television channel that was launched on 5 December 1992 by Zygmunt Solorz-Żak. , it is the most watched television channel in Poland with a market share of 11.30% Polsat belongs to Grupa Polsat Plus ( WSE: CP ...
, the news is aired at 18:50, followed by the sitcom '' Świat według Kiepskich'' at 19:30.


Russia

In
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
television prime time is between 19:00 and 23:00 on working days and from 15:00 to 01:00 on holidays. On radio stations there are morning, day and evening prime times. The most common division: morning—6:30 to 10:00; day—~12:00 to 14:00; evening—16:00 to 21:00.


Slovakia

Public television in
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
consists of two channels; on the main channel ( Jednotka) prime time starts at 20:10, and on the second one (Dvojka) prime-time programming starts at 20:00. The two biggest private broadcasters set the start of prime-time programming at 20:20 ( Markíza) and 20:30 ( TV JOJ). Generally, however, prime time is considered to be from 20:00 to 23:00.


Slovenia

In
Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
, prime time, the period in which the most-watched shows are broadcast, is from 8:00pm to 11:00pm. It is preceded by daily newscasts; Dnevnik RTV SLO (7:00pm – 8:00pm) on TV SLO 1, 24ur (6:55pm – 8:00pm) on POP TV, Svet na Kanalu A (6:00pm – 7:00pm; 7:50pm–8:0pm), and Danes (7:30pm – 8:00pm) on Planet TV.


Spain

In Spain, prime time refers to the time period in which the most-watched shows are broadcast. Prime time in Spain starts quite late when compared to most nations as it runs from 22:30 till 01:00. Most news programmes in Spain air at 21:00 for an hour and prime time follows. However, due to fierce competition, especially among the private stations prime time has even been delayed until 23:00. Most channels are delaying prime time in order to protect their top shows from sporting events. In the 1990s, prime time in Spain began at 21:00, moving to 21:30 in the latter half of the 1990s and 22:00 in the early 2000s. Commercial broadcaster LaSexta and the second channel from the Public broadcasting La 2 (Spanish TV channel), La 2 have attempted to shift prime time back to 21:30 in 2006 and Spring 2007, but these attempts have been unsuccessful. Fellow public channel La 1 (Spanish TV channel), La 1 also tried to pull prime time back to 21:00 in early 2015, to no avail. The lateness in the start of prime time in Spain is also due to Spanish language, Spanish culture. Spanish people generally work from 09:00–14:00 and then from 17:00–20:00 as opposed to the 09:00–17:00 which is common in other countries. The popular late-night show ''Crónicas marcianas'' during the late 1990s–2000 also helped to extend prime time well into the early hours with the show being watched by a share of 40%, despite finishing at 02:00. Spain might also be unique in that it has a second prime time, running from 14:30–17:00 which coincides with the siesta, extended Spanish lunch break. Shows airing in the secondary prime time period on many occasions beat those prime-time shows at night on a daily basis. The second prime time occurs only on weekdays, though and the slot is usually filled with ''The Simpsons'',
news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...
,
soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...
s and
talk show A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (201 ...
s.


Sweden

In Sweden, prime time starts at 20:00. It is preceded by a daily newscast at 19:30 and local news at 19:50.


Ukraine

In Ukraine, prime time () runs from 18:30 to 21:30 on working days and from 15:00 to 01:00 on holidays.


United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, UK, prime time (also known as peak time) runs from 19:00 to 23:00.


North America

In North America, television networks feed their prime-time programming in two blocks: one for the Eastern and Central time zones, and the other, on a three-hour tape delay, for the Pacific Time Zone, to their local network affiliates. In Atlantic Canada (including Newfoundland and Labrador), as well as Alaska and Hawaii, there is no change in the interpretation or usage of "prime time", as the concept is not attached to time zones in any way. Affiliates in the Mountain Time Zone, Mountain, Alaska Time Zone, Alaskan, and Hawaii–Aleutian Time Zone, Hawaiian zones are either on their own to delay broadcast by an hour or two, or collectively form a small, regional network feed with others in the same time zone. Prime time is commonly defined as 8:00–11:00 p.m. Eastern/Pacific and 7:00–10:00 p.m. Central/Mountain on Monday through Saturday. On Sundays, the five major broadcast television networks traditionally begin their primetime programming one hour early at 7:00 p.m. (Eastern/Pacific, 6:00 p.m. Central/Mountain), and still air through 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific /10:00 p.m. Central. Some networks, such as Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox and The CW only broadcast a time period from 7:00–10:00 p.m. on Sundays and 8:00–10:00 p.m. on other days, a time period known as "Common Prime". MyNetworkTV takes it a step further and broadcast only from 8:00–10:00 p.m. and only on weekdays(due to it not being a tv network and instead as a programming service, forming its programming like a tv block). The CW returned to Sunday broadcasting in 2019, followed by the addition of Saturday for the first time in 2021 and then the Sunday prime access hour in 2023. In Canada, CTV Television Network, CTV and Global Television Network, Global both follow the same model as the larger U.S. networks (although both may occasionally air programming in the 7:00 p.m. hour in the event of scheduling conflicts with other U.S. imports), while CBC Television, Citytv, and CTV 2 schedule prime-time programs only within the common prime period (with the 10:00p.m. hour dedicated to Broadcast syndication, syndicated programming on Citytv and CTV 2, and CBC airing its news program ''The National (TV program), The National''). The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has alternatively defined prime time as ranging fro
6 pm to 11 pm
t

Since the early 2000s, the major networks have come to consider Saturday prime time as a graveyard slot and have largely abandoned scheduling of new scripted programming on that night. The major networks still maintain a prime-time programming schedule on Saturdays, with a mix of live sporting events (most commonly college football in the United States and ice hockey in Canada), encores of programs aired earlier in the week, films, non-scripted reality programs, true crime programs produced by their news divisions, and, occasionally, burning off episodes of low-rated or cancelled series. Prime time can be extended or truncated if coverage of sporting events run past their allotted end time. Since the "Heidi Game" incident in 1968, in which NBC cut away from coverage of a New York Jets/History of the Oakland Raiders, Oakland Raiders football game on the east coast in order to show a movie (and, in the process, causing viewers to miss an unexpected comeback by the Raiders to win the game), the present-day National Football League mandates that all games be broadcast in their entirety in the markets of the teams involved. Due to this rule, game telecasts may sometimes overrun into the 7:00 p.m. ET hour. Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox previously scheduled repeats of its animated series in the 7:00 hour, allowing themselves to simply pre-empt the reruns if a game ran long. This was later replaced by a half-hour-long wrap-up show, ''The OT''. In contrast, CBS does not, as its weekly newsmagazine ''60 Minutes'' has traditionally aired as close to 7:00 p.m. ET as possible. Even if a game runs past that hour, CBS shows ''60 Minutes'' in its entirety after the conclusion of coverage, and the rest of the prime-time schedule on the East Coast is shifted to compensate. For example, if game coverage were to end at 7:30 p.m., prime time would end at 11:30 p.m. However, in the rare case where the NFL game runs excessively late (8p.m. or later), the series scheduled to air at 10p.m. is preempted, with the West Coast and eastern markets airing only an early afternoon game usually receiving a repeat of the 10p.m. series instead. In an extreme case, CBS's prime time can be extended past midnight during broadcasts of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. This does not necessarily apply universally; in 2001, after an XFL (2001), XFL game went into double overtime, causing a 45-minute delay of a highly promoted episode of ''Saturday Night Live'', NBC made a decision to cut off all future XFL broadcasts at 11:00 p.m. ET. Since the launch of NBCSN, NBC has occasionally invoked this curfew by moving sports overruns to that channel if necessary. Until the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulated time slots prior to prime time with the now-defunct Prime Time Access Rule in the 1971–1972 season, networks began programming at 7:30 p.m. Eastern and Pacific/6:30 p.m. Central and Mountain on weeknights. The change helped instigate what is colloquially known as the "rural purge"—a long-term trend away from programs appealing to older and rural audiences in favor of programs catering towards younger, "urban" viewers. As a result, the prime access hour became a lucrative timeslot for syndicated programming in the years that followed, with game shows and variety shows, as well as syndicated reruns, becoming popular. The vast majority of prime-time programming in English-speaking North America comes from the United States, with only a limited amount produced in Canada. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission mandates quotas for Canadian content in prime time; these quotas indicate at least half of Canadian prime-time programs must be Canadian in origin, but the majority of this is served by national and local news or localized entertainment gossip shows such as Global Television Network's ''Entertainment Tonight Canada'' and CTV Television Network's ''Etalk, ETalk''. Likewise, the vast majority of Spanish-language programming in North America comes from Mexico. Televisa, a Mexican network, provides the majority of programming to the dominant U.S.-based Spanish broadcaster, Univision. Univision does produce a fairly large amount of unscripted Spanish-language programming, the best known having been the long-running variety show ''Sábado Gigante'', hosted and created by Chilean national Don Francisco (television host), Don Francisco, until September 2015. Today, Univision is televising Liga MX soccer matches on Saturdays. Univision's distant second-place competitor, Telemundo, produces a much greater share of in-house content, including a long line of telenovelas. In Quebec, the largest Francophone area of North America, French-language programming consists of originally produced programs (most of which are produced in Montreal, with a few produced in Quebec City) and a few French-language dubs of English language programs. On all of the Quebec networks, entertainment programming is scheduled only between 8 and 10p.m., with the 10–11p.m. hour given over to a network newscast or a nightly talk show.


United States

Prime time is the daypart (a block of a day's programming schedule) with the most viewers and is generally where television networks and local stations reap much of their advertising revenues. In recent years, television advertising expenditure in the US has been highest during prime-time drama shows. The Nielsen ratings system is explicitly designed for the optimum measurement of audience viewership by dayparts, with prime time being of most interest. Television viewership is, in general, highest on weekday evenings, as most Americans are working time, at work during daytime, asleep during the overnights, and out taking part in social events on weekends; thus, television has its highest audience at times when people are unlikely to be away from home. Prime time for radio is called drive time and, in Eastern and Pacific Time, is 6–10a.m. and 3–7p.m. and, for Mountain and Central Time, is 5–9a.m. and 2–6p.m. The difference between peak radio listenership and television viewership times is due to the fact that people listen to their radios most often while driving to and from work (hence the name "drive time"). A survey by Nielsen revealed that viewers watched almost two hours' worth of TV during prime time.


Mexico

In Mexico, central time normally starts at 7:30 p.m. and periodically ends at 10:30 p.m. The main networks, such as Las Estrellas, Azteca Uno, and Imagen Televisión, broadcast telenovelas produced by themselves or productions acquired from other countries such as Turkey and Brazil, among others.


South America

In Television in Latin America, many Latin American countries, prime time (known in most countries as ''horario central'' or "Central Time", ''horario estelar'' ("Stellar Time") or ''horário nobre'' ("noble time") in Brazil) is considered to be from Monday to Friday from 6:00 or 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. The time slot is usually used for
news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...
, telenovelas and television shows, and special time slots are used for reality television, with great popularity, especially in Television in Mexico, Mexico and Television in Brazil, Brazil. In Brazil, the three most famous telenovelas in the country are shown each weekday and on Saturdays on prime time. There are also news programs, reality shows, and sitcoms.


Argentina

In Television in Argentina, Argentina, prime time is considered to be from 8:00p.m. until 12:00a.m., including the most successful series and telenovelas in the country (such as ''Los Roldán'' and ''Valientes'') and entertainment shows, like CQC (Caiga Quien Caiga) or Showmatch (Showmatch).


Chile

In Chile, prime time is considered to be from 10:30p.m. until 1:00a.m., including the most successful series and telenovelas in the country (such as ''Socias'' and ''Las Vega's (Chilean TV series), Las Vega's''). Investigation entertainment shows (like ''Informe especial, Informe Especial'', ''Contacto'', and ''Apuesto por ti'') also air.


Paraguay

In Paraguay, prime time occurs between 19:00 and 23:00. Usually, programmes during prime time are newscasts and entertainment shows.


Oceania


Australia

Prime time in Television in Australia, Australia is officially from 6:00 p.m. to midnight, following Time in Australia, Australian Eastern Standard Time, with the highest ratings normally achieved between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.


New Zealand

Traditionally, prime time in Television in New Zealand, New Zealand is considered to be 7:30pm to 10:30pm, but it can be extended to cover the entire evening of television (5:00pm to 11:00pm).


See also

*Drive time *International broadcasting *Late night television *Market share *Graveyard slot *The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present *List of longest-running American primetime television series


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prime Time Television genres Television terminology Economics and time