Approximate US television broadcast dayparts for weekdays EST.

In broadcasting, dayparting is the practice of dividing the day into several parts, during each of which a different type of radio programming or television programming apropos for that time is aired. Programs are most often geared toward a particular demographic, and what the target audience typically engages in at that time.

For examples, rush hours are often particular dayparts for radio stations. Traffic reports are usually given at these times, and rarely at others. Arbitron, the leading ratings service in the United States, divides a weekday into five dayparts: morning drive (6-10 am), midday (10 am-3 pm), afternoon drive (3-7 pm), evenings (7 pm-12 midnight), and overnight (midnight-6 am; Arbitron generally does not measure during this time period).

On TV, like on radio, the day is divided into similar dayparts, although the times have been blurred somewhat. Breakfast television (morning shows in the United States) air between 7-10 am; on network television, these are usually long-form news programs featuring entertainment, light fare, and features aimed toward women. After breakfast comes 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, tabloid talk show and (much more rarely since the 1990s) the game show are popular genres in this daypart. The later part of the daytime slot can sometimes be targeted for children and teenagers who come home from school (U.S. networks Fox and The WB had children's blocks in the late 1990s, and even prior to that, CBS's Match Game exploited this audience to set ratings records in the 1970s).

From 5-7 pm, newscasts are the norm for most broadcast stations in the United States. 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 begins with the "access period" occurs between 7-8 pm. Two game shows, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! have dominated this time slot in the United States since the 1980s, and they usually compete with syndicated entertainment newsmagazines.

Prime time is the highest profile of television dayparts, and airs (on the East Coast) from 8-11 pm. The highest rated programs on television air during prime time. Following prime time, a late local newscast airs, followed by late night television. Late-night shows are predominantly targeted toward younger male audiences and feature a common format of a male host delivering a stand-up comedy routine, several guests, and a house band. After the late night shows, infomercials and extreme late night newscasts fill the time between the late nights and the next morning's newscasts.

Weekends have a slightly different setup than weekdays. On Saturdays, morning shows share time on mornings with the Saturday morning cartoon, where the networks usually fulfill federally-mandated E/I regulations; on Saturday afternoons, generally the least watched of any of the dayparts, college football, infomercials and a few other sports broadcasts dominate. Saturday evening has, in recent years, featured virtually no new programming (Spanish-language Univision's Sabado Gigante is a notable exception), and late night programming on Saturday features two prominent sketch comedy shows, Saturday Night Live and MAD TV. Sunday mornings feature more morning shows, public affairs programming designed for very small audiences, televangelism, and a series of influential political interview programs known as the Sunday morning talk shows. Sunday afternoon is reserved for broadcasts of major professional sports leagues, and 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.

Dayparts are as follows:

• adapted from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0DIZ/is_30_12/ai_63857170

Dayparting is also used in Online Marketing, and is the act of ads appearing during specific time periods.

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