This Thanksgiving there’ll be more than just another helpin’ of apple pie on our plates as several cable networks serve up numerous favorites in “marathon blocs” from Thursday, November 27^th right through the entire holiday weekend.

Today, we associate “binge viewing” with over-the-top digital channels such as Hulu, Netflix and Amazon. But long before the Internet became a standard household utility, the cable industry was running marathon programming blocs, starting back in the very early ‘90s with TBS’ “Seven Days of 007”. That quickly morphed into “15 Days of 007” and soon thereafter cable networks began experimenting with their own marathon programming events.

Below is a sampling of a dozen Thanksgiving Day programs that will be served up in large cuts that comprise a mixture of original cable content (“Pawn Stars”& “Duck Dynasty”) and off-broadcast programs (“Cops”& “Friends”). These same shows also aired in marathon blocs the previous Thanksgiving (11/28/2013):

_{Source: Viamedia analysis of Rentrak TV Essentials Data (Telecast Summary Report) for specific program titles across 11 cable networks on Thanksgiving Day, November 28th, 2013. Ratings are Viamedia time-duration weighted estimates of all airings that carried the same program title/name. The number of 2014 Thanksgiving episodes (November 27th, 2014) is from Show Seeker Plus (as of 11/11/2014).}

While we cannot precisely isolate advertising dollars associated with these specific program airings, we can identify local cable advertising activity for last Thanksgiving Day (2013) across all of the cable networks that carried these shows. On Thursday, November, 28^th, 2013, these 11 networks attracted nearly 180 local cable advertisers, who ran 2,569 cable spots across 41 Viamedia markets and 86 separate zones.

And which categories captured the greatest amount of ad dollars last Thanksgiving?

Well, that depends. Across all eleven cable networks, the Automotive category captured the lion’s share (42%), followed by Retail/Department Stores (18%), Furniture/Floor Covering (14%) and Entertainment & Travel (6%):

_{Source: Viamedia internal analysis of B.I.G. database (“Who Ordered It”) for 11 cable networks (A&E, DISC, E!, TBS, FOOD, APL, USA, HIST, TLC, CMDY and SPIKE) that exhibited local advertising activity on 2013 Thanksgiving Day (11/28/2013).}

But the distribution of ad categories was highly dependent on the network in which the marathon programming aired.

For example, 36% of the Food Network advertising was from the Retail/Department Store category (compared with 18% across all eleven networks). 26% of E!’s advertising was from Furniture/Floor Coverings (compared with 14% overall). And 84% of Comedy’s advertising was from Entertainment/Travel (compared with 6% overall). In other words, there was something on the plate for all advertisers to choose from.

In closing, if last Thanksgiving Day is any guide, the American public is sure to bring a very healthy appetite to the dinner table… and to the cable TV set as well.

Enjoy the feast!

For more information on Viamedia, visit www.viamediatv.com.

– Written by Jonathan Sims, VP Media Research, Viamedia