Understanding The Video Consumer

by Jack Loechner, Aug 18, 2011, 8:15 AM

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According to the Nielsen Cross Platform Report, Americans are spending more time watching video content on traditional TVs, mobile devices and via the Internet than ever. Overall TV viewership increased 22 minutes per month per person over last year, demonstrating moderate growth and remaining the dominant source of video content for all demographics. Even the lowest fifth quintile of TV viewers still averages an hour of TV consumption per day, with the highest quintile tuning in for nearly ten hours per day.

Mobile video viewing continues to see marked gains, with the number of Americans watching video on their mobile devices increasing 41% over last year and more than 100% since 2009. Time shifted TV continues to grow, both in the penetration of DVR devices in the home and the time spent. Internet video streaming also saw increases in time spent; this behavior is the highest among a younger and diverse subset of the population.

Over the past year, satellite and telephone company-delivered TV subscriptions increased while subscriptions to wired cable decreased slightly. Broadcast-only households remained stagnant.  Two thirds of TV homes now have an HDTV, an increase of more than 20% over last year. Slightly less than half have a video game console or a DVR, 45% and 40%, respectively.

Television Distribution Sources - Number of Households (in 000's)
Market Break	Q1 11	Q4 10	Q1 10
Broadcast Only	11,193	11,147	11,170
Wired Cable	62,651	63,393	64,951
Telco	7,654	7,339	6,042
Satellite	34,297	34,273	32,877
Source: Nielsen, Q1 2011. (Based on Quarterly Universe Estimates.)

African-Americans watch the most video content, including traditional TV and mobile video, though less timeshifted TV than the general population. Asians have emerged as the hands-down leader in time spent watching video on the Internet, averaging six-plus hours more per month than Whites and nearly four hours more per month than the next closest ethnic group, Hispanics. Asians also watch far less traditional TV than the general population-more than a third less than Whites and half as much as African-Americans. Like Asians, Hispanics watch less traditional TV but more Internet video than the general population, but to a less extreme degree.

Video Audience Composition - Monthly Time Spent in Hours: Minutes - Ethnicity & Race
	White	African-American	Hispanic	Asian
On Traditional TV	155:33	212:53	135:42	100:25
Watching Timeshifted TV (all TV homes)	11:55	7:37	6:56	8:14
DVR Playback (only in homes with DVRs)	26:59	22:12	24:03	22:47
Watching Video on Internet	3:57	5:52	6:24	10:19
Mobile Subscribers Watching Video on a Mobile Phone	3:37	6:30	4:20	4:20
Source: Nielsen, Q1 2011. (Based on total users of each media.)

Satellite, broadcast-only and wired cable delivery of TV content is nearly even among three of the four ethnic groups tracked, with Hispanics being the outliers. They are more likely to get satellite or be broadcast-only than Whites, African-Americans and Asians, and much less likely to get wired cable.

Television Distribution Sources by Ethnicity
	White	African-American	Hispanic	Asian
Broadcast Only	9%	11%	15%	10%
Wired Cable	61%	63%	51%	65%
Telco	7%	7%	6%	9%
Satellite	31%	27%	35%	27%
Source: Nielsen, Q1 2011

Age plays an interesting role in video audience consumption across media, with the age groups 25-34, 35-49 and 50-64 each dominating a specific platform. Traditional TV viewership steadily increases with age, so it comes as no surprise that Adults 50-64 make up the largest segment of the traditional TV audience (25%). The largest segment of the Internet video audience is Adults 35-49 (27%), while the largest segment of the mobile video audience is 25-34 year olds (30%).

A Week in the Life: Weekly Time Spent in Hours: Minutes
	2-11	12-17	18-24	25-34	35-49	50-64	65+	P2+	Hispanic 2+	African-American 2+
On Traditional TV	26:31	24:21	26:28	30:34	36:23	44:54	49:17	35:37	30:42	47:37
WatchingTimeshifted TV	1:49	1:31	1:30	3:11	3:11	2:48	1:40	2:25	1:34	1:42
Using the Internet on a computer	0:40	1:45	5:31	8:29	8:34	7:20	3:55	5:43	4:10	4:54
Watching Video on Internet	0:07	0:20	0:48	0:57	0:38	0:25	0:12	0:33	0:32	0:30
Mobile Subscribers Watching Video on a Mobile Phone	NA	0:20	0:15	0:10	0:05	0:02	<0:01	0:07	0:12	0:13
Source: Nielsen, Q1 2011 (Uniquely based on the Total Population in the US; all 297 million Americans over age 2)

The new trend among our TV and Internet homes shows the lightest traditional television users streaming significantly more Internet video via their computers, and the heaviest streamers under-indexing for traditional TV viewership. This behavior is led by those ages 18-34.The group of consumers exhibiting this behavior is significant but small. More than a third of the TV/Internet population is not streaming, whereas less than 1% are not watching TV.

Usage:Number of Users 2+ (in 000's) - Monthly Reach
	Q1 11	Q4 10	Q1 10	% Diff Yr to Yr
Watching TV in the home	288,500	289,284	286,225	0.8%
Watching Timeshifted TV (all TV homes)	107,065	105,936	94,599	13.2%
Using the Internet on a computer	190,913	191,237	191,301	-0.2%
Watching Video on Internet	142,437	141,420	135,855	4.8%
Using a Mobile Phone	231,000	230,300	229,495	0.7%
Mobile Subscribers Watching Video on a Mobile Phone	28,538	24,708	20,284	41.0%
Source: Nielsen, Q1 2011

Hispanic mobile subscribers are the most likely to have a smartphone, while White mobile subscribers are the least. The greater use of smartphones could be linked to Hispanics watching more video on their mobile devices than the general population. Likewise, the availability of Spanish-language channels available on satellite continues to drive the increased number of Hispanics who opt for satellite-delivery of their TV content.

Mobile Device Penetration by Ethnicity
	White	African-American	Hispanic	Asian
Smartphone	30%	39%	53%	48%
Feature phone	70%	61%	47%	52%
Source: Nielsen, Q1 2011

Cord Swapping: Debunking the myth that consumers are no longer willing to pay for television content subscriptions, Nielsen found that 91% of TV households still paid for a TV subscription in Q1 2011. Instead, evidence points to a slight reshuffling of the method selected, whether cable, through telephone companies or satellite.

For additional information from Nielsen , and access to the PDF report, please visit here.

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0 comments on "Understanding The Video Consumer".

1. David Murdico from Supercool Creative
   

   commented on: August 18, 2011 at 5:30 p.m.

   Nice article, Jack. Thanks!

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