Commentary

Understanding The Video Consumer

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.

1 comment about "Understanding The Video Consumer".
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  1. David Murdico from Supercool Creative, August 18, 2011 at 5:30 p.m.

    Nice article, Jack. Thanks!

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