The amount of television watched hit an all-time high with Americans spending four hours and 49 minutes a day on average in front of the TV.

New findings from The Nielsen Company show kids aged 2-5 now spend more than 32 hours a week on average in front of a TV screen.

Baby Boomers may be the perfect catch for advertisers in this unstable economy, according to new research from Nielsen.  Not only are Baby Boomers spending the lion’s share of consumer packaged goods, but are also watching more TV and spending more time on the Internet than Millenials age 18-44. Boomers watch 39 hours of TV per week compared to only 27 hours a week for Millenials.   Boomers also use the Internet almost 7 hours per week compared to 6 hours a week those for those 18-44.  Read the full study here.
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Whoever said “content is king” was prescient. In today’s world, media is an on-demand experience with an array of platforms delivering rich content to on-the-go consumers via multiple devices. The fight for share of wallet is being played out on three screens: mobile, television and the Internet. So far, TV is winning.

The penetration of U.S. households completely unready for the transition to digital television dropped from 7.4% in November to 6.8% in December, Nielsen reported Friday.
Non-Hispanic households continue to be more ready for the transition than Hispanic households, but the rate of Hispanic readiness is picking up. After seeing no change in unready Hispanic households from October to November, that percentage dropped from 12.4% to 11.5% in December.

Was 2008 the best sports year ever?  At least in terms of viewer interest, there’s plenty of evidence to support that argument.  Consider these TV sports highlights from 2008:
-The most-watched global event ever (2008 Beijing Summer Olympics: 4.7 billion viewers)
-The most-watched Super Bowl ever (Giants-Patriots, Super Bowl XLII: 97.5 million viewers)
-The most-watched cable broadcast of all time (Cowboys-Eagles, Monday Night Football: 18.6 million viewers)
-The most-watched cable golf event of all time (Tiger vs. Rocco, U.S. Open Playoff: 4.8 million viewers)
-The most-watched cable baseball game ever (Red Sox-Rays, ALCS Game 7: …

TV, Internet, and mobile usage continues to grow in the U.S., according to a report released today by Nielsen.
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 …

In recent months, U.S. households have accelerated their preparations for the nationwide switch to digital TV, Nielsen reported Tuesday.
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.

Television viewing and online video streaming go hand in hand — with the heaviest Internet users also watching the most TV, Nielsen reported Friday.
Internet users who rank among the top fifth in terms of time spent online also watch more than 250 minutes of television each day, according to Nielsen. In comparison, people who don’t use the Internet at all watch just 220 minutes of TV per day.
The data comes from Nielsen’s new TV/Internet Convergence Panel, which measures both TV and Internet usage within individual U.S. households. The panel consists …

As previously reported, 31.6% of all television households nationwide tuned in for John McCain and Barack Obama’s first presidential debate.
A closer look at the minute-by-minute TV ratings, released Wednesday by Nielsen, reveals few peaks or drop-offs in household viewing during Friday’s debate.

 
 
 
 
 
 
According to Nielsen’s analysis, after an early ramp-up in the debate’s first five minutes, the percentage of households watching the debate held steady throughout the remainder of the telecast. 
The percentage of TV households watching the McCain-Obama debate peaked at 32.9% at 9:38pm EST Friday night. 
Debate viewing dropped off significantly after …