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Film & Television vocabulary · Television Formats and Series

Prime time

Meaning in film & television, with examples

/ˈpraɪm taɪm/nounCommon term

In film & television, prime time means: The evening hours when the largest number of people watch TV, so channels show their most important programmes and charge the most for adverts.

In Turkish: prime time, en çok izlenen saat dilimi, ana yayın kuşağı

How it is used

Used with in or as an adjective with a hyphen: in prime time, a prime-time drama, a prime-time slot. In the US it is usually 8 to 11 p.m.; in the UK it is often called peak time. Turkish media also use prime time directly.

Example sentences

  1. The new drama will air on Thursday nights in prime time.

  2. Advertising during prime time costs several times more than in the afternoon.

Common collocations

  • in prime time
  • prime-time slot
  • prime-time audience
  • prime-time drama
  • ratingsMeasurements of how many people watch a TV programme, used by channels and advertisers to judge its success.
  • seriesA TV or streaming programme made of many episodes that share the same characters, subject or story.
  • sitcomA comedy series, short for situation comedy, in which the same characters appear in funny situations, usually in a few familiar places such as a home or workplace.
  • reality showA TV programme that films real people, not actors, in real or specially arranged situations, such as competitions, dating or daily life.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Television Formats and Series

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