The average person viewed 17 hours 24 minutes of commercial TV per week between January and March this year, according to the BARB figures.
This figure represented a lift of 1.1% for commercial TV of overall broadcasting viewing figures.
Total broadcast TV viewing, including BBC channels, remained stable year on year at 27 hours, 24 minutes per week, according to the research.
Tess Alps, chief executive of Thinkbox, claimed the figures showed it had been "a first-class first quarter for commercial TV viewing"
The BARB figures also revealed that commercial impacts were up 2% year on year in the quarter, and had leapt more than 16% over the last five years.
Key audiences for advertisers witnessed increases in commercial impacts, including ABC1s and 16 to 34-year-olds, which were up 2%, while impacts for men were up 3%.
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