• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, May 20, 2009

Thanks to "strong" brand marketing and major media events like the Presidential inauguration, the Super Bowl and the NCAA's college basketball finals, online video usage among U.S. consumer grew 13% year-over-year and mobile jumped more than 50%, according to new data from Nielsen's "Three Screen" report.

But while consumers are increasingly choosing to watch video on the "best screen available," traditional TV remains the screen of choice, according to the quarterly analysis from Nielsen's A2/M2 "Anywhere Anytime Media Measurement" initiative.

During the first quarter, the average American watched approximately 153 hours of TV every month at home, which represented a 1.2% increase year-over-year.

Between work and home, the 131 million Americans who watched video online consumed an average of about 3 hours of video each month. The 13.4 million Americans who watch video on mobile phones, meanwhile, watched an average of about 3.5 hours of mobile video each month. Overall, Nielsen found that consumers' time with TV, Internet and Mobile video continues to increase across the board.

Looking ahead, with the continued adoption of broadband and new technology, Nielsen expects online video audiences to continue growing.

Mobile video viewing has grown a significant 52% from the previous year, up to 13.4 million Americans. "Much of this growth continues to come from increased mobile content and the rise of the mobile web as a viewing option," the report suggests.

Of all different age groups, 18- to-24-year-olds show signs of watching DVR and online video the same amount of time -- "time-shifting" 5 hours, 47 minutes per month, and watching video online 5 hours, 3 minutes each month.