Changes are afoot, however, as consumers seek out the entertainment option that makes the most sense for them. The number of homes subscribing to wired cable has decreased 4.1 percent in the past year at the same time that telephone company-provided and satellite TV have seen increases of 21.1 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.

Broadcast-Only/Broadband Homes in Focus
Though less than 5 percent of TV households, homes with broadband Internet and free, broadcast TV are on the rise—growing 22.8 percent over last year. These households are also found to exhibit interesting video behaviors: they stream video twice as much as the general population and watch half as much TV.

Whether they’re cord-cutters or former broadcast-only homes that upgraded to Internet service, these homes represent a very small but growing group of U.S. consumers. Interestingly, roughly the same percentage of consumers in broadcast-only/broadband homes watch traditional TV, stream or use the Internet as in all cross-platform homes; the difference between these groups falls to time spent on these activities. Even broadcast-only/broadband homes spend the majority of their video time watching traditional TV: 122.6 minutes, compared to 11.2 for streaming on average each day.

Download a historic look at State of the Union ratings and viewership.

Country by country, peak viewing times vary somewhat:

• South Korea has the latest viewing peak, with the highest proportion of viewers (26%) tuning in between 10pm and 11pm
• New Zealand and Australia have the highest proportion of viewers tuning in at any particular time – on average, 40 percent of New Zealanders and Australians watch television between the hours of 8pm and 9pm, closely followed by the Philippines with 39 percent
• New Zealand has the highest number of viewers outside of the 8pm to 9pm peak time – between 7pm and 8pm 39 percent of New Zealanders tune in to their televisions and the 6pm to 7pm time slot also enjoys around 35 percent of New Zealand viewers
• Malaysia has the largest proportion of late night viewers, with one quarter of Malaysians still watching television between the hours of 11pm and midnight
• Filipinos are the most likely to tune in to daytime television – more than one in five (22%) watch television between 12pm and 2pm.

When it comes to TV viewing, women of all ages spend more time than their male counterparts. Women ages 2+ watch nearly 16 hours of traditional TV more per month than men. On the flipside, men consistently spend more time streaming video online.

Older Americans (65+) watch more than twice as much traditional TV as teens, and roughly 37 percent more TV than those ages 35-49. In terms of the size of the audience, Americans 50-64 make up the largest segment of the traditional TV audience (25%). Interestingly, adults 35-49 represent the largest segment of the Internet video audience (27%) and Americans 25-34 dominate the mobile video audience (30%).

There are also distinct viewing trends by ethnicity, with African-Americans watching the most video content.

• When it comes to traditional TV, African-Americans tune in nearly 213 hours per month, more than twice as much as Asians and roughly 57 hours more than Whites. African-Americans also watch the most mobile video, though less time-shifted TV than the general population.
• Asians have emerged as the hands-down leader in time spent watching video on the Internet, averaging six-plus hours more per month than Whites and nearly four hours more per month than the next closest ethnic group, Hispanics. Asians also watch far less traditional TV than the general population.
• Hispanics watch less traditional TV but more Internet video than the general population, but not at the level of the Asian population.
• Whites watch by far the most time-shifted TV—nearly 50 percent more than Asians, the next closest ethnic group—when looking at all TV homes. They continue to watch the most when the field narrows to only homes with DVRs. Whites also watch less video on the Internet or mobile phones than other ethnic groups.

For more detail on methodology, viewing demographics, mobile video, timeshifted TV, and Internet video, download Nielsen’s Cross-Platform Report.

Traditional TV
Overall TV viewership increased 22 minutes per month per person over last year, remaining the dominant source of video content for all demographics. In addition, Nielsen data shows that consumers are willing to pay for high-quality TV content, with broadcast-only homes less than a tenth of U.S. TV households.

Mobile Video
Though still accounting for just a handful of hours per month, mobile video viewing continues to see marked gains, increasing 41 percent over last year and more than 100 percent since 2009.

Timeshifted TV
Timeshifted TV continues to grow, both in the penetration of DVR devices in the home and the time spent.

Internet Video
Internet video streaming also saw increases in time spent; this behavior is the highest among a younger and diverse subset of the population.

More details are available to download in the complete Cross-Platform Report.

Emerging Traditional TV/In-home Internet Streaming Trend
Until the fall of 2010, Nielsen data consistently indicated that the heaviest media consumers are so across all platforms. A subset of consumers from television and Internet homes has now emerged that defies that notion, with the lightest traditional television users streaming significantly more Internet video, and the heaviest streamers under-indexing for traditional TV viewership.

This behavior is led by those ages 18-34.  The group of consumers exhibiting this behavior is significant but small. More than a third of the TV/Internet population is not streaming, whereas less than 1% are not watching TV.

For more in-depth information on overall viewing behavior—by ethnicity, gender and age—as well as emerging trends and device and delivery penetration, download Cross-Platform Report.

From what people watch to what they buy, behavior across ethnic groups in the U.S. is as diverse as the groups themselves. A closer look at the multicultural landscape by The Nielsen Company reveals how consumers utilize the same resources differently. The findings show that African Americans are TV-centric, Hispanics are savvy smartphone users, and Asians/Pacific Islanders are heavily wired to the Internet. In retail, African Americans shop the most frequently; Hispanics shop less often but spend more than others; and Asians/Pacific Islanders take the most advantage of deals and promotions.

Multicultural Multimedia
African Americans are the heaviest TV consumers, watching 6 hours and 54 minutes a day versus the 5 hour and 11 minute average for all U.S. households. More than 30 percent of African American households have four or more televisions, and they over-index in subscription to premium cable services. On their mobile phones, they use more voice minutes than other groups (1,261 minutes per month).

Hispanics are very active on their smartphones, texting the most out of all races/ethnicities (943 texts per month) and employing a wide range of mobile activities, including mobile banking. Smartphone penetration has reached 45 percent, matching only Asian-American usage levels in popularity.

Asians/Pacific Islanders are the most active PC and Internet users, spending nearly 80 hours on PCs in February 2011 versus the national average of about 55 hours. They also consume more Internet content than any other group, visiting 3,600 web pages in February – about 1,000 more than their counterparts. Although they watch the least amount of TV (3 hours and 14 minutes per day), they stream the most online video, averaging 10 hours and 39 minutes in February – more than double the overall mean of 4 hours and 20 minutes.

Different Retail Channels for Diverse Needs
African-Americans shop more frequently than other ethnicities, but spend less on each trip and on an annual basis. Compared to other households, African-Americans make relatively fewer trips to major channels like grocery stores and supercenters, but are more frequent shoppers in smaller retailers like drug stores, dollar stores and convenience/gas channels. Spending on basic food ingredients, non-alcoholic beverages, and personal and beauty care products exceeds the U.S. average.

Hispanics shop less often than other ethnicities, but spend more on each trip and annually. English-preferred Hispanics are more frequent shoppers in supercenters, mass merchandisers and drugstores, while Spanish-preferred Hispanics outpace English-preferred in trips to dollar stores, convenience/gas stations and warehouse clubs. Hispanic households spend disproportionately more than the U.S. average on staple ingredients such as dried vegetables and grains, shortening oil, flour and seasonings and spices. They also buy more men’s and women’s beauty products and baby-related items than the average U.S. consumer.

Asians/Pacific Islanders offset slightly lower per trip spending with more frequent shopping than White Non-Hispanics. Asians also get the biggest bang for their buck, buying close to 31 percent of purchases on deal. Asian/Pacific Americans bring home far more fresh produce, nuts, dried fruit, pasta, yogurt, soup and juice & drinks compared to the U.S. average. With higher birth rates, they show a disproportionate amount of sales for baby categories. Their spending on skin care and oral hygiene also index well above average.

For more information, refer to Nielsen’s Digital American Family Report.

In November 2010, African-Americans used their TVs an average of 7 hours 12 minutes each day–far above the total U.S. average of 5 hours 11 minutes. Asians used their TVs the least, just 3 hours and 14 minutes on average. African-Americans also used DVD players and video game consoles more than average.

Across all households, White households’ primetime usage increased by 5.0 rating points with DVR playback, more than any other group. Asian homes had usage growth of 3.1 rating points, while African-American and Hispanic households increased their usage by more than 2 rating points with the additional DVR playback. These increases more than double when cut back to DVR households.

For the complete picture, download: State of the Media: U.S. TV Trends by Ethnicity

Fast Facts
There are 115.9 million homes in the U.S. with at least one TV – up roughly 1 million homes from the previous TV season.

Viewing averages
• The average American watches 35:34 (hours/minutes) of TV per week
• Kids aged 2-11 watch 25:48 (hours/minutes) of live TV per week
• Adults over 65 watch 48:54 (hours/minutes) of TV per week

Top Genres

DVR and HD Usage

For the complete view, including to shows and networks from last season, download Nielsen’s State of TV fact sheet.

To get a better sense for how the world is watching video, today, Nielsen recently completed a survey of more than 27,000 online consumers in 55 countries, asking simple questions about how they watch video. Internet access still varies considerably by region, so the results of an online survey are not representative of the total global population, but show us how an important subset of the global population (the connected population) is consuming video across multiple platforms. The results from the survey, with corresponding syndicated Nielsen insights where available, were released today in a new report, “How People Watch – A Global Nielsen Consumer Report.”

“This report provides one of the broadest looks at how consumers watch video, to date,” says Matt O’Grady, who oversees the integration of Nielsen’s TV, online and mobile audience measurement. “The research reveals how connected consumers all over the world are expanding their video experience across screens.”

Key Findings

• Online Video: approximately 70% of global online consumers watch online video; but North Americans and Europeans lag in adoption. More than half of global online consumers watch online video in the workplace.
• Mobile Video: is already used by 11% of global online consumers: penetration is highest in Asia-Pacific and among consumers in their late 20s.
• Tablet PCs: are expanding the definition of mobile video. Globally, 11% of online consumers already own or plan to purchase a tablet PC (such as an iPad) in the next year.
• Television: is a universally important platform for video consumption, with connected consumers in many markets spending 4+ hours per day watching television.
• HDTV (High-Definition TV): is improving the TV viewing experience for as many as 30% of global online consumers. Adoption is highest among older consumers and in North America, where HD content has proliferated.
• 3DTV (Three-Dimensional TV): will have a small but important audience: 12% of global online consumers own or have definite intent to purchase a 3DTV in the next year.
• “Over the Top” TV: televisions with Internet connections are gaining interest. About one in five (22%) global online consumers owns or has definite interest in buying a television with Internet connection in the next year.

For the first time, this report identifies important differences in cross-platform video behavior by region and country:

• Claimed TV viewership is higher than average in the emerging BRIC economies, Brazil, Russia, India and China, and lower than average in many developed European markets
• North America and Europe appear to lag slightly behind other regions in the use of online and mobile video
• Connected consumers in Asia-Pacific are 45 percent more likely to use mobile video than the global average
• Claimed interest for Tablet PCs is highest in MEAP markets: Middle East, Africa and Pakistan. Connected Pakistanis are twice as likely as the global population to say they own or are interested in a Tablet PC.
• Connected Latin American consumers express above average interest in TVs with Internet connections. Online Consumers in Colombia, in particular, are very interested in acquiring this technology.

• Download “How People Watch – A Global Nielsen Consumer Report“

“The FCC should proceed cautiously in evaluating the need for regulation,” said Whiting.  “Consumers increasingly choose to view their favorite shows from many different sources and incorporate media in their lives in many new ways.  Content owners need flexibility to adapt to these changes and meet consumer demand across all platforms.”

Whiting appeared as part of a panel about online video distribution considerations at a FCC forum in Chicago regarding the proposed merger of NBC Universal and Comcast.  While taking no position on the proposed merger, Whiting briefed the commission on the evolving media landscape by sharing Nielsen’s data on video consumption by the American public in an effort to give it a better understanding of the current and future market for video content.

“Over the last four years, we have seen the continuing increase in the integration of media platforms for the distribution and consumption of video.  Consumers want and expect to get video when they want it, where they want it and are willing to use whatever devices works best for them,” concluded Whiting.

Download Susan Whiting’s complete prepared remarks to the FCC.

Read Nielsen’s most recent Three Screen report.