Nielsen: TV Continues Going 'Everywhere'

Nielsen's latest Three Screen Report should give Comcast a measure of comfort following its $30 billion acquisition of NBC Universal. The study found that 99% of the time Americans spend watching video is in front of television, with time-shifted TV viewing and online video use continuing to grow.

Looking at usage during a typical week in the third quarter, people watched an average of 31 hours, 19 minutes of TV per week, with 31 minutes viewed through playback on a DVR. Online video-watching averaged 4:22 a week and mobile video, 3 minutes.

DVR use increased 21% in the quarter compared to a year ago, and Internet video, 35%. Time spent watching TV at home was flat.

"Americans today have an insatiable appetite for not only content, but also choice," said Nic Covey, director of cross-platform insights at Nielsen, in a blog post. "Across all age groups, we see consumers adding the Internet and mobile devices to their media diet -- consuming media anytime and anywhere possible."

That echoes the rationale Comcast CEO Brian Roberts offered for the NBC deal announced last week, citing the need to deliver 'anytime, anywhere' media that American consumers are demanding." It also ties into the TV Everywhere initiative backed by Comcast, Time Warner and other cable companies giving consumers access to content on any platform as long as they are paying subscribers.

The weekly data Nielsen provided for the first time this quarter highlighted how much smaller mobile video consumption is than TV or online -- a few minutes -- not much longer than a typical TV commercial pod. Usually, Nielsen highlights quarterly figures for the minority of U.S. cell users who watch TV on their phones. For that group of 15.8 million cell users, the average viewing time was 3:15 in the third quarter.

While the number of people watching mobile video has grown 53% over the last year, viewing time has actually slipped 10% from 3:37 a year ago. Teens remain the most devoted mobile video fans, watching just over seven hours per month.

The study's TV and Internet figures were calculated using Nielsen's national TV and Internet panels, while the mobile data is collected via a quarterly survey.

5 comments about "Nielsen: TV Continues Going 'Everywhere'".
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  1. Douglas Ferguson from College of Charleston, December 8, 2009 at 9:29 a.m.

    How is more time-shifted television viewing a good thing for an advertising-supported medium? That's like an abused wife saying, well, at least he spends more time with me.

  2. Douglas Ferguson from College of Charleston, December 8, 2009 at 9:30 a.m.

    Ad-skipping is what time-shifters do and it abuses the medium. Broadcasting needs a new revenue stream.

  3. Mike Einstein from the Brothers Einstein, December 8, 2009 at 9:40 a.m.

    This headline, TV Continues Going 'Everywhere' makes less sense than the research methodology Nielsen employeed to determine that 99% of video viewing occurs in front of the television, and that only 1.6% is time-shifted viewing.

    Even more incredible is their claim that all non-TV video viewing combined equals only 1% of the total video-viewing pie.

    In ancient Sanskrit, "measurement" and "illusion" had very similar meanings. Apparently they still do at Nielsen.

    In fact, I would contend that 99% of time spent in front of a TV isn't even video viewing! Gotta cut my toenails somewhere, don't I?

  4. Fraser E from Opinions expressed herein are solely my own, December 8, 2009 at 5:32 p.m.

    Douglas, the idea that ad-skipping only came into being with the advent of the DVR is bankrupt on its face, because viewers with legs to get them out of the room have been skipping ads for decades. It's just that now, we have the research to quantify the number those who do it with a remote. Funny thing is, the people who fast-forward ads with a remote still show remarkable ad recall, and those who aren't even within earshot can't do that.

  5. John Grono from GAP Research, December 8, 2009 at 7:34 p.m.

    Mike, if you press the "Power On" switch on the television the video will appear - the clue is in when the screen is black.

    Coincidental studies here in Australia of around 13,000 people show that over 90% of people are in the room 'watching' the television when the electronic meters say they are. Are they actually 'watching' ? I would contend that for the majority the answer is 'yes'. Are they 'watching exclusively'? I would contend 'not all the time'. Ethnographic studies (e.g. Ball State) show that they are watching. It looks like you are in that toe-nail cutting majority.

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