Internet Or TV: Americans Are Watching Mega-TV

TVBig watchers of Internet content on their traditional TV sets are also watching plenty of regularly scheduled TV programming.  

A new study by The Nielsen Company and commissioned by the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing says that 84% of watchers who have Internet-connected TV sets or other devices are still watching a heavy dose of network TV shows the old-fashioned way.

More importantly to broadcast and cable networks: these watchers are not "cord-cutters" -- those consumers looking to abandon cable system operator monthly programming packages. Of those surveyed, 92% have regular cable systems video packages. The study says 3% plan to transition from their cable subscription models.

CTAM president and CEO Char Beales stated: "We've learned that new technologies are providing additional opportunities for viewers to access TV shows and movies, at their convenience. But it's supplementing viewing of regularly scheduled TV, not replacing it."

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During the summer the study surveyed men and women 18-49 who watched at least five hours of TV per week and included a mix of cable, satellite, telco and former pay TV subscribers. All respondents had high-speed Internet connections, and at least once in the past month, watched full-length TV shows or movies from the Internet on the TV set.

1 comment about "Internet Or TV: Americans Are Watching Mega-TV".
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  1. Douglas Ferguson from College of Charleston, November 16, 2010 at 11:55 a.m.

    Sigh. I know my comments are a meme by now, but let me point out, again, that low percentages of cord-cutters should not a source of solace to legacy media, but merely another indicator of the slow-burning fuse. Remember all the don't-worry reports 6 or 7 years ago? DVR has only 3% penetration, then only 5%, then only 9%, then only 15%. The don't-worry stories died off as the number grew. Nowadays over 40 percent have DVRs and the business of renting eyeballs is crumbling.

    Look for the same thing to happen as viewers slowly learn how to wean themselves from traditional cable. Reporting how slowly the fuse is burning will not extinguish the fuse, nor prevent the impending future of viewer-controlled media. We will likely talk wistfully someday of "cable" in the same way most of use recollect "VCR" as an outmoded and quaint concept.

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