“The rise in simultaneous use of the web and TV gives the viewer a unique on-screen and off-screen relationship with TV programming,” said Nielsen Company media product leader Matt O’Grady. “The initial fear was that Internet and mobile video and entertainment would slowly cannibalize traditional TV viewing, but the steady trend of increased TV viewership alongside expanded simultaneous usage argues something quite different.”

Behind The Rise in TV and DVR Use

Each week, on average, Americans watched roughly 35 hours of TV and two hours of timeshifted TV via a DVR. The growth in viewing is due to a number of factors:  The DVR brings added convenience while high definition programming and flatscreen TVs have boosted the quality of the experience.  Digital delivery, via cable or satellite, is delivering more channels and more choice to the home than ever before.

DVRs, now found in 35% of American households, continue to gain popularity. Those age 25-34 watch nearly three hours a week of timeshifted TV, while those age 65 and older watch just more than an hour.

Growth in Online and Mobile Viewing
Online video consumption is up 16% from last year. Of note, approximately 44% of all online video is being viewed in the workplace.  The research shows that Americans watch network programs online when they miss an episode or when a TV is not available.  Online video is used essentially like DVR and not typically a replacement for watching TV.

Active mobile video users grew by 57% from the fourth quarter of 2008 to the fourth quarter of 2009, from 11.2 million to 17.6 million.  Much of this increase can be linked to the strong growth of smartphones in the marketplace.

“It seems that, for the foreseeable future at least, America’s love affair with the TV will continue unabashed,” said O’Grady. “We seem to have an almost insatiable appetite for media, with online and mobile programming only adding to it.”

For complete data and methodology, download The Nielsen Company’s Three Screen Report.

Nielsen Online CEO John Burbank takes a look at the economic and advertising impacts of the report.

Highlights Of The Report Include

• The number of American users frequenting online video destinations has climbed 339 percent since 2003.
• Time spent on video sites has shot up almost 2,000 percent over the same period.
• In the last year alone, unique viewers of online video grew 10 percent, the number of streams grew 41 percent, the streams per user grew 27 percent and the total minutes engaged with online video grew 71 percent.
• There are 87 percent more online social media users now than in 2003, with 883 percent more time devoted to those sites.
• In the last year alone, time spent on social networking sites has surged 73 percent.
• In February, social network usage exceeded Web-based e-mail usage for the first time.

Read the full report.

Download the full press release

Leading up to the Jan. 8 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, buzz from online boards, forums and blogs increased nearly tenfold from post-2008 holiday levels, according to Nielsen Online.

Key products created much of the excitement, including super-thin, bendable TV screens (using organic light-emitting diode, or OLED technology), new digital cameras and camcorders, smarter-than-ever-smartphones such as the Palm Pre, and tinier, more powerful computers, some of which are being called “netbooks.” Also big: the concept of “convergence,” which means that many electronics devices are now interchangeably converging their functions: computers that download TV content and music and play it throughout the house, cameras that use GPS to tag photos automatically, and phones that serve as music players. Sure, electronics manufacturers are feeling the pinch, but they’re also hoping to benefit from consumers who turn to more home-based entertainment (big-screen TVs, gaming consoles, etc.) to keep their own budgets under control.

Follow more trends at Nielsen Online’s blog, Connecting the Dots.

As of Q3 2008, the average American watched approximately 142 hours of TV per month — five hours more than they watched in a typical month during the same period a year ago.

Americans who used the Internet were online 27 hours a month, and people who used a mobile phone spent 3 hours a month watching mobile video.

Men were more likely than women to watch via mobile phone, while women were more likely then men to watch video online.

DVR usage was up significantly (52.5%) in Q3 2008, compared with Q3 2007.  Americans spent more than six hours per month watching timeshifted TV — double the amount of time they spent watching video online.  The only exception: 18-24 year-olds, who consumed more video online (four hours, 48 minutes) than via DVR (four hours, 36 minutes).

During the 2007-08 television season, the average U.S. household took in eight hours and 18 minutes of TV per day, a record high since Nielsen started measuring television in the 1950’s.

“TV use is at an all-time high, yet people are also using the Internet more often — 31% of which is happening simultaneously,” Susan Whiting, vice chairperson, Nielsen, noted.

Download the report.

Learn more about viewing across the “three screens” – view Manish Bhatia, of Nielsen, addressing the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s December 2008 forum.