• by Wayne Friedman , September 7, 2018

For the 2018-19 TV season starting in a few weeks, Nielsen says its estimate of national TV homes will inch up to 0.2% to 119.9 million.

A year ago, Nielsen’s estimate was 119.6 million for the 2017-2018 TV season -- up 1% from the year before.

Also for the new TV season, total TV persons in those homes will grow 0.3% to 305.4 million. Nielsen says there were increases in the U.S. among Hispanic, black and Asian TV households due to estimated increases in population growth

Gains for total TV persons were less than the hikes for the 2017-2018 TV season versus the previous year, which saw a 0.9% increase.

Also, the percentage of total U.S. homes with TV receiving traditional TV signals via broadcast, cable, DBS or Telco, or broadband Internet connected to a TV set is 95.9%.

Nielsen results come from U.S. Census Bureau, along with its national TV panel.

Nielsen says the results “reflect real changes in population since last year and updated TV penetration levels, differentially calculated for qualifying market break and age/sex demographic categories.”