• by Adrienne W. Fawcett , December 7, 2006

Americans like a good party, and more than ever, that party is taking place in front of big-screen TVs.

New research exclusive to Marketing Daily found that well over half of all Americans are staying home more than they did two years ago to enjoy high-tech entertainment between their own four walls. And nearly as many say new technology such as wide-screen TVs and HDTV has turned TV-watching into a social event.

It's time to flip on the gas logs and fire up the television.

And not just any television. "The party is built around the wide-screen TV," says Steve Levine, senior vice president for technology, telecom and consumer electronics at Synovate, which conducted the survey of 1,000 U.S. adults over age 18.

According to the Consumer Electronics Association, wide-screen TVs--those 40 inches or larger--accounted for 21 percent of all TVs shipped in the U.S. this year, up from 14 percent last year. As screens grow in size, the cost is plummeting, making the sets available to more people. Flat-panel LCD and plasma TV prices dropped 25 percent in the past year to roughly $1,500 this year, from $2,200 last year, says Sean Wargo, the association's director of industry analysis.

"We're experiencing a phenomenon of people migrating to larger TVs," he says. In fact, like many couch potatoes, TV sets have gained an inch a year for the past five years.

TVs used to hide behind huge entertainment consoles, but people are starting to take them out of the closet and hang them prominently above the mantel or on a living room wall. "They're a status symbol as well as en entertainment vehicle," says Wargo, which partly explains why people like to frame their social life around wide-screen TVs.

The Synovate study found that the young-middle-aged are the most likely group to party in front of the TV. Well over 300 of all respondents said they have HDTV, wide-screen or plasma TVs at home, and of this group, 47 percent said they're watching TV in a social setting more often because of these new technologies. But that figure shoots up to 67 percent for respondents ages 35 to 44.

Midwesterners also are more likely to socialize in front of the tube: 57 percent of those with high-tech TVs said they find themselves socializing at home in front of their sets more than two years ago. That compares to 46 percent of Northeasterners, 42 percent of Southerners and 45 percent of those on the West Coast. Could it be the weather?

Not surprisingly, younger age groups are less inclined to stay home because of high-tech entertainment systems. "Which makes sense," says Synovate's Levine. "They like to go out for fun."

The MarketingDaily/Synovate study unearthed some interesting stats about Americans' adoption of high-tech tools at home. Specifically, more people have high-tech stuff than not. Among respondents:

69% have high-speed Internet

30% have wireless Internet

23% have wide-screen TV

20% have plasma TV

29% have on-demand movies from cable provider

39% have video game systems

15% are technologically deprived with none of the above