• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer, October 11, 2016

According to The Nielsen Total Audience Report, focusing on the media channel choices within the many different platforms consumers have at their disposal, viewers consistently watch a relatively small percent of the television networks available to them, but over the years both channels available and channels viewed have increased.

The report goes on to say that a major effect of new devices and services is additive to consumer’s total time spent with media, and the usage of individual devices and platforms has changed over time as the media landscape continues to evolve.

This iteration of the Report finds that channels receivable has started to decrease somewhat, as a result of lower multichannel penetration and cord-shaving.  In addition, the number of different channels viewed is also lower, though by a very small amount, just one less channel over two years for the average adult TV viewer, says the report.

And an extended review by Marketing Charts, relating to traditional TV viewing,  MC Editor, JC Lupis, in presenting the latest quarterly TV viewing figures from Nielsen, “… shows us now 5-and-a-half years’ worth of quarterly data on Americans’ traditional TV viewing habits. It’s well established,” says Lupis, “that youth as a whole are watching less traditional TV.”

Lupis reports that the data in the report concerns “traditional TV” viewing, which averages out all live and DVR/time-shifted TV viewing during each quarter. It is a measure of legacy TV viewing on set-top boxes, and does not include viewing via connected TV devices.

While DVR and time-shifted TV viewing is growing, it still represents only a fraction of total “traditional TV” viewing, says the report. For example, among the total 18-24 population, weekly live TV viewing averaged 13 hours and 39 minutes per week in Q2 2016, while DVR and time-shifted TV viewing averaged 1 hour and 26 minutes per week.

The Nielsen most recent “Total Audience Report” indicates that Americans aged 18-24 watched a weekly average of 15 hours and 5 minutes of traditional TV during Q2 2016. That represents a year-over-year decline of roughly 1 hour and 20 minutes per week. In other words, 18-24-year-olds as a group went from watching about 2 hours and 20 minutes per day during the second quarter of 2015 to about 2 hours and 10 minutes per day during Q2 of 2016.

In summary, the report says that between 2011 and 2016, Q2 traditional TV viewing by 18-24-year-olds dropped by more than 9 hours per week, or by more than one-and-a-quarter hours per day. As a percentage, Q2 traditional TV viewing by 18-24-year-olds was down by about 8.2% year-over-year and has now fallen by 38% since 2011. In the space of 5 years, almost 40% of this age group’s traditional TV viewing time has migrated to other activities or streaming.

The complete Marketing Charts report includes the analyses of viewing trends, and contains:

• Data concerning changing habits as Millennials age, from the Q4 2015 Nielsen report
• Research from another recent Nielsen that looks at audience sizes and consumption across various media channels
• Income and race/ethnicity data outlined in recent Nielsen studies
• Results from other sources that compare linear and streaming TV viewing

For additional information from the Nielsen report please visit here, and the Marketing Charts report, here