Percentage of Households that Are Completely Unready For the Digital Transition

Click here to read Nielsen’s full DTV readiness update.

Two Nielsen executives, Susan Whiting, Vice Chairman of the company, and Anne Elliot, a Vice President, spoke with the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, respectively, about the preparedness of some communities and audiences.

LA Times ~ 01/16/09: Few organizations have more influence over television broadcasting than the Nielsen Co., whose panels of viewers supply the ratings that help determine what advertisers pay for their commercial slots. Now, Nielsen is helping shape the debate over TV technology — in particular, the transition to digital. Using knowledge gained from its panels, the company has tracked how well prepared viewers are for the mid-February cut-off of analog channels. – full story

The percentage of completely unready households declined from 8.4% in September 2008 to 7.7% last month — the largest single-month change in the past six months, according to Nielsen.

Non-Hispanic households continue to be more ready than their Hispanic counterparts.  But in recent months, both Hispanic and non-Hispanic households have hastened their preparations for the digital transition. 

As the February 17, 2009 digital transition approaches, Nielsen will continue to track the readiness of TV households in the U.S.  

Readiness data are based on TV sets and households in Nielsen’s National People Meter panel, which is representative of U.S. television households, and Nielsen’s local metered panels, which are representative of their respective television household populations.

View the full media alert.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in Media Post, Multichannel News, and Broadcasting & Cable.

If the transition occurred today, those 9.6 million homes would unable to receive any television programming, while another 12.6 million households would have at least one television set that would no longer work.

In all, one in five U.S. households are either partially or completely unready for the government-mandated switch to digital programming that will occur on February 17, 2009.

Demographic Trends
Households headed by less educated, lower income, and blue collar workers are least prepared for the digital transition, according to Nielsen. Those whose total annual household income is less than $25,000 per year are five times more likely to be unprepared than households earning more than $75,000.

Older, white households are better prepared than their younger, African American, Asian, or Hispanic counterparts.  Thirteen percent of Hispanic households remain completely unready for the transition, as do 12.5% of African American households.

Geographic Trends
Among the 56 local markets Nielsen measures with electronic meters, Houston has the largest percentage (15.8%) of households that remain completely unready for the transition to digital TV.  In contrast, the Ft. Myers, Florida market, with only 2.4% of homes unready, is best prepared for the switch.

View complete data on digital preparedness in Nielsen’s 56 top local metered markets and 154 local diary markets.

Read Nielsen’s complete report on digital readiness in the U.S.

View the full press release.

Go behind the data: read NielsenWire’s Q&A with Steve McGowan, co-author of Nielsen’s most recent report on the transition to digital TV.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings on Bloomberg and in TV Week, Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News, Radio Business Report, and Mediaweek.

NielsenWire recently spoke with the co-author of Nielsen’s most recent report on the transition to digital TV, Steve McGowan, Senior Vice President, Insights and Client Research Initiatives, Nielsen.

NielsenWire: How has digital preparedness changed since Nielsen’s last report this past spring?

Steve McGowan:
Not all that much.  Since last May, when 9.8% of homes were “completely unready,” the number has dropped by just 1.4 percentage points — to 8.4%.

NielsenWire: So, how prepared are Americans for the switch to digital TV?

Steve McGowan:
The digital transition in American homes is happening at a casual rate: more than 9 million homes – that’s 8.4% of all U.S. homes – are still completely unready.

Spanish-language broadcast networks are still more vulnerable: 26% of tuning to these networks is done on “unready TV sets” — compared to 15% for English-language broadcast networks.

“Unready sets” are disproportionately found in the kitchen or secondary bedroom, as opposed to the living room or master bedroom, and may not get “upgraded” by February – or ever.

NielsenWire: Which demographics are most — and least — prepared for the transition to digital TV?

Steve McGowan:
Readiness rates are correlated with household income and head of household education.  Overall, we found that a larger proportion of “unready” homes are African American (12.5%) and Hispanic (13.0%).  Homes where Spanish is the primary language are most “unready” for the digital transition. 

Perhaps surprisingly to some, readiness rates are higher in older households.  Some might expect older people to be less ready for the digital transition, but in fact, they are better prepared, on average.

NielsenWire: What findings, if any, surprised you?

Steve McGowan:
With all the attention given to the coupon program for external digital tuner boxes, to date only one-fourth of the sets that were “upgraded” has one of these boxes.  As the transition date approaches, however, more homes may find this to be a better – and lower-cost — option than replacing the set altogether, or signing up for cable or satellite access.

NielsenWire: Why is this report still important?

Steve McGowan:
This series of reports tracks how Americans are responding to the conversion process.  Given the nation’s current economic turmoil, Americans may face additional financial hurdles in replacing or converting unready sets — we’ll be tracking that, as well.  As February 17 approaches, Nielsen will step up our reporting to better anticipate how viewing will be affected by the switch.

Get the latest data on digital readiness in the U.S.

Read Nielsen’s complete report on digital readiness in the U.S.

View complete data on digital preparedness in Nielsen’s 56 top local metered markets and 154 local diary markets.