Nielsen Wire » Home Technology Usage

Report: Bigger TVs, DVR and Wi-Fi among Hot U.S. Home Technology Trends

Nielsen Wire — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 20:39:25 +0000

As Americans’ voracious appetite for home entertainment and technology continues to expand and evolve, so do the devices, gadgets and accouterments to support the craving. Nielsen’s Q2 2010 Home Technology Report identifies the key technology trends that are hot and the ones that have cooled based on a two-year trend review of self-reported survey data.

The survey is based on a sample of 1,372 households. Telephone interviews, using a computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) system, were used to collect the information from the sample households. Interviews were conducted with a randomly selected household member at least 12 years old.

Hot Trends:

Bigger and Better TVs
Upgraded television sets in the form of bigger screen sizes larger than 41 inches and better resolution continue to outfit in-home theaters. Specifically, HDTV sets have increased 26.9% and LCD flat screens are up 48.2% from Q3 2008 to Q2 2010.

Home Internet Access
Internet and broadband access in the home continues to rise – up 2.5% and 3.8%, respectively between Q1 2010 and Q2 2010. Currently, 85.3% of Americans have some kind of Internet access either through home and/or work.

Home Wi-Fi
The freedom of untethered connectivity helps the trend to go wireless continue. Having a wireless network in the home increased 8.2% from Q1 2010 to Q2 2010 and 24% over eight quarters.

Digital Video Recorders
Demanding schedules have made time-shifted viewing a must-have for 40% of U.S. homes who currently have a DVR device. And DVR adoption continues, increasing 14.5% from Q1 2010 to Q2 2010.

MP3 Players
Almost half (46%) of all U.S. homes now have at least one MP3 Player. Apple’s iPod is still the dominant player in this category, capturing 63% of all MP3 Player-owning households.

Apple iPad
The Apple iPad launched on April 3, 2010, and was added to the Nielsen Home Technology Report survey shortly thereafter (May 2010). According to the Q2 report, 3.6% of U.S. homes now own an iPad and this hot trend will be closely followed.

Cooling Trends:

Satellite Radio
While crystal clear audio, uninterrupted playlists and anywhere access make Satellite Radio an enticing experience, it experienced only modest growth over the past eight quarters, up just 5.5%.

Video Cassette Recorders
VCRs continue to disappear from U.S. households as DVRs and DVD players provide both greater functionality and better playback clarity at an increasingly affordable price. Add the fact that U.S. movie studios are no longer releasing movies in the VHS format and you can expect the VCR to become just another trivia question for a digital generation no longer familiar with yesterday’s analog technologies. Currently, VCR ownership within U.S. homes is 70.2%, down 10.6% from Q3 2008 when it was 78.5%.

Digital Video Disc Players
DVD players are down 0.6% from Q1 2010 to Q2 2010. With 87.9% of U.S. homes already owning a DVD player, the “hot” growth phase for DVD players has long passed.

Personal Digital Assistants
The PDA is also becoming a rare sight these days within U.S. households. PDA ownership has declined 25.5% since Q3 2008 and will likely continue. Credit the Smartphone that provides both handheld computing capability and a phone for much of the PDA’s steady market share decline.

iPhoning It In

Nielsen Wire — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:21:15 +0000

Apple’s iPhones have doubled their penetration rate versus a year ago, according to Nielsen’s most recent Home Technology Report. iPhone penetration hit 5.9 percent in Q3 2008, up from 3 percent in Q3 2007.

In addition to the increased popularity of the iPhone, Nielsen found that DVRs such as Tivo are showing up in more homes, with penetration up over 50% versus a year ago. Households with teens were over 30 percent more likely than the average household to own or rent a DVR device.

Download the full report here.

Nielsen’s Q3 2008 Home Technology report measures quarterly survey data on American technology usage and attitudes. A Nielsen PreView study based on this HTR focused on adoption rates on over 50 current technology devices and technology subscriptions.

Demand Soars For Video-On-Demand And New Technology

Nielsen Wire — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:17:40 +0000

According to a new report by Nielsen PreView, Entertainment-hungry Americans are rapidly embracing new devices and technology. The report, sourced from Nielsen’s quarterly Home Technology Report, analyzed device and subscription patterns from 2004 through 2007 and discovered that consumers are quickly adopting many new technologies and swapping out their old technology for the new.

Among the findings in the report, new technologies like Video-On-Demand (VOD) usage rose by more than 150%. Meanwhile many consumers have begun to switch out their old basic cable for more advanced digital cable. In fact, digital cable subscription rates jumped upwards by 30% to 29.5% of U.S. households while basic cable has begun to decline. This explosion in entertainment consumption is underscored by the fact that 39% more households are deciding to put multiple screens in the same room by choosing to put both a PC and a TV in the same room.

View Nielsen PreView’s complete study.