Daily viewing during primetime remained flat compared to a year ago, but is still at its highest peak since 1991.

The continued increase in television consumption can be attributed to several factors including more television sets in the home, and Americans also have more channels and content to choose from and are using their DVRs more than ever.

Download the complete breakdown of personal and household viewing dating back to 1950.

American children aged 2-11 are watching more and more television than they have in years. 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. The older segment of that group (ages 6-11) spend a little less time, about 28 hours per week watching TV, due in part that they are more likely to be attending school for longer hours.

This trend of increased viewing among children mirrors the overall increase in media consumption we’ve been tracking over the last two years across TV, Internet, Games and Mobile phones. And much like their older family members, the majority of viewing for these kids is still done watching live TV.

Very Early Adopters
While 97% of kids’ viewing is through live TV, younger kids spend more time than the older group viewing via DVR, DVD and, to a lesser extent, VCR. Four percent of kids aged 2-5 watch via those devices on average across total day compared to 2.3% for those aged 6-11. Their considerable use of these devices at a young age points to them being able to adopt new devices comfortably as they grow up.

One more thing younger kids do more than those age 6-11 is watch more commercials. Young kids also watch commercials in playback mode more than older kids and adults, as well as watch their favorite shows over and over and over on DVD, VOD and DVR.

Older kids may not use the DVR, DVD and VCR as much as the very young, but they spend twice as much time playing video games — 2 hours 23 minutes a week compared to 1 hour 12 minutes for those 2-5. Internet usage among older kids is also significantly higher as nearly half of kids 6-11 spent time on the Internet in August versus 20% of kids 2-5.

More proof that Boomers should be looked at by advertisers is Nielsen research from January which shows baby boomer households represented more than 50% of sales in 98 of 122 consumer packaged goods (CPG) product categories analyzed in a recent report by Nielsen and the Hallmark Channel.  That adds up to almost $200 billion in total sales in those categories.

In the New York Times today, Nielsen’s Howard Shimmel said, “Especially in this economy, with marketers’ budgets under so much stress, advertisers would prefer to spend dollars on today’s sales instead of thinking about establishing brand loyalty.”

Read the full article in the New York Times.

Dave Thomas, President, Global Media Client Services, The Nielsen Company

SUMMARY: 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.

Fact or Fiction?

A pioneering Video Consumer Mapping Study conducted on behalf of the Nielsen-funded Council for Research Excellence by the Ball State University Center for Media Design and Sequent Partners examined the current state of video media use by age group. Can you tell which of the following statements are true—or merely the media equivalent of ‘urban myths’?

No doubt about it, the media landscape has changed dramatically for consumers and advertisers alike. The tectonic plates of media options have shifted, and once-familiar terrain has experienced a radical make-over. There appears to be no upper limit on the public’s appetite for video, and the number of digital video alternatives, but three screens dictate the terms of entertainment: television, mobile devices and the Internet.

Apparently, cross-platform users opt for the “best screen available”, making their selection based on the quality of the screen experience, convenience, availability and schedule compatibility.

Timing is everything
At-home TV viewing recorded a remarkable 151+ hours per month for the typical Nielsen household in the last quarter of 2008. Internet users logged on for more than 27 viewing hours each month. Time-shifted TV viewing via devices like digital video recorders accounted for an additional 7+ hours per month—a 33% increase over the fourth quarter of 2007. Mobile subscribers consumed nearly four hours of video on a mobile phone and almost three hours looking at video on the Internet, thanks in large part to the Saturday Night Live candidate parodies posted on YouTube.

Channeling TV
Several unique attributes account for television’s preeminent position: the ability to capture attention, create awareness and convey novelty effectively even in a cluttered environment. Together, these features are largely responsible for TV outpacing Internet use by a factor of 10. TV actually benefits from cross-platform viewing behavior. When people access multiple screens, general TV viewing rises. Despite the growing popularity of time-shifted viewing, with 3 of 10 households owning a digital video recorder, live TV is still a clear favorite with video fans.

Economic indicators
Video aficionados continue to invest in home entertainment versus other areas, albeit at a lower level, according to Nielsen. Apparently, consumers can’t live without the small screen. Currently, 54% of U.S. households have one or two TVs, 25% have three TVs and 21% own four or more sets. Overall, 63% of survey respondents reported changed spending habits, with 26% purchasing fewer videos or on-demand and pay-per-view movies/events.

Video streamers
Who are the primary consumers of video? Nielsen research reveals an audience that is young (households with teens have the highest incidence of streaming and downloading video), wealthy (streaming and downloading increases with income and registers much higher among $60,000+ households), and Latin (Hispanic households are more than twice as likely to download movies).

African-American households are less than half as likely as the average to download a video clip or movie to their cell phone, but exactly half more likely to access the web via their mobile phone.

Popular portals
How do viewers access video? YouTube absolutely dominates video streaming with two-thirds of viewers accessing clips through that web site. Still, in the downloading game, networks pushed out video to 43% of the audience, followed by Google (28%), news and cable networks both at 22%.

Results for music rang a very positive note for iTunes which is an almost monolithic presence with a 60% share of music downloads. Competitors Rhapsody and Amazon each carved out just slightly more than 6% of music download sales.

Mobile eyes
Like TV, cell phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) enjoy unique points of difference that attract video viewers. Primarily, it’s ergonomic. The smaller screen provides a smaller visual field, requiring more concentration and focus to receive the message, which in turn bumps up retention. While the more emotional elements conveyed so well by TV may get lost—for example, it’s difficult to see facial expressions on a tiny screen—the speed and effectiveness of the medium more than compensate.

Web wise
The Internet poses an interesting marketing conundrum. It is both the least effective of the three screens for commanding attention and building awareness, and the most effective in the latter stages of selling—powerful in its ability to persuade viewers to take action. Fully 91% of households have Internet access and 57% of homes have high-speed connections.

A Nielsen Consumer Audit determined that one reason for the ubiquity of Internet connection might be that the average $37 per month Internet provider charge is approximately half the cost of cell phone and TV service. Internet access correlates positively with families of children younger than 18, better educated and higher income households.

Video villages
One emerging trend that holds high potential for advertisers seeking to build consumer relationships is the “telecommunity”. Telecommunities comprise people who simultaneously watch TV and chat real time online about the program. During the Oscar telecast, 11% of people who watched the Academy Awards were logged onto the Internet, which represents about four times more simultaneous usage than normal.

Telecommunity members who connected via Facebook during the Oscars were online for 76 minutes and watched 50% more of the broadcast than the average Academy Award viewer. Twitter.com reported more than 100,000 Oscar-related “tweets” during the broadcast, an astonishing 400 messages per minute. Teens are more likely than adults to embrace these kinds of multi-tasking multi-media connections.

Social networks
Two-thirds of the world Internet population participates in social networking or blogging sites. This utilization represents almost 10% of all Internet time around the world according to the Nielsen Global Faces and Networked Places report.

One in every 11 online minutes globally gets spent on social network sites like Facebook and MySpace. In Brazil, a young, Internet-savvy population has driven that number to a remarkable 1 in every 4 Internet minutes. In the U.K., social network activity accounts for 1 in every 6 minutes. But it’s not just a young person’s game. The fastest-growing segment of Facebook users are people age 35-49, and the site added twice as many 50-64 year-olds as under-18 year-olds last year.

Different strokes
All of which goes to prove the point that there is a medium suited to every budget, age, gender and personality, and that we can expect the convergence trend to continue apace. Happy viewing!

For More Information:

Home Internet Access in the U.S.
This Nielsen Company report on home Internet access aggregates data from several different sources including the national and local television panels, the quarterly Home Technology phone survey (through 3rd quarter, 2008), and the Nielsen Claritas 2008 Convergence Audit survey, which is a combination of internet and mail respondents. The report notes differences in Internet access by geography and a number of socio-economic factors. Contact us for a free copy of this report.

Streaming Trends and Drivers

Nielsen’s quarterly Home Technology Report takes a pulse on usage and behavior surrounding technology consumption for Americans. The survey covers penetration rates for both technology devices and services/subscriptions. In addition, the survey includes questions on future purchases and current usage habits. Download a free copy of the Streaming Trends and Drivers Report.

Three Screen Report
In its quarterly Three Screen report, Nielsen reported that Americans spent more time this quarter using the “Three Screens” than they did during the same time period last year. The report revealed updates on timeshifted viewing behavior and its relationship to online video viewing. Other insights revealed include the demographic breakdown of mobile video viewers, DVR penetration and streaming video usage.

This quarter, the A2/M2 Three Screen Report reveals that the average American watches more than 151 hours of TV per month, an all-time high.  They are also watching several hours of video on other devices: those who watch it on the Internet consume another 3 hours of online video per month, and those who use mobile video watch nearly 4 hours per month on mobile phones and other devices.

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.

Younger households remain the least ready, but this month has seen their strongest monthly surge in preparation, with unready households dropping from 10.6% in November to 9.9% in December.

In the 56 local markets with metered measurements, Albuquerque is the most unprepared market with 13% of households still completely unprepared.  Tulsa (12.65%), Houston (12.41%), Dallas-Ft. Worth (11.71%), and Salt Lake City (10.63%) are the next four on the list.

Hartford-New Haven is the most prepared of Nielsen’s 56 metered markets — with only 2.6% of households still in need of a digital upgrade.

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

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 media alert.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in The Wall Street Journal, Broadcasting & Cable, The Hollywood Reporter, Multichannel News and The Coloradoan.

-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: 13.4 million viewers)

-The most-watched NBA Finals in five years (Celtics-Lakers, NBA Championship Series average: 14.9 million viewers)

-The most-watched NHL regular season game in nine years; most-watched finals in five years (Winter Classic: 2.5 million viewers; Stanley Cup, Penguins–Red Wings average: 4.5 million viewers)

-The most-watched Wimbledon final in eight years (Federer-Nadal: 5.2 million viewers)

The surge in viewership could be attributed to the dramatic storylines behind these games and events, but Nielsen’s analysis shows that new technology is enhancing the sports fan’s experience:

-Ratings for sports events are 20% higher in homes with high-definition TV sets vs. total U.S.

-75 million people visited sports websites in October 2008

-11.6 million unique users logged more than 1.2 billion minutes on fantasy sports sites in 2008

-10.6 million U.S. mobile subscribers accessed sports content via the mobile Web in August 2008

View the full report.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in USA Today.

Take our poll.

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.

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.

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 of nearly 3,000 people in more than 1,000 households. TV viewing and Internet usage data are collected by Nielsen’s electronic People Meters and NetSight meter software.

Internet and TV “multitasking” is also common among these heavy users, Nielsen found.

Almost one-third of home Internet use (31%) is accompanied by background TV viewing, while about 4% of TV viewing occurs when a consumer is also using the Internet, according to Nielsen.

Overall, more than 80% of people who watched TV and used the Internet in September used both simultaneously.

Teens were the most likely to use TV and Internet together, but adults ages 35 to 54 logged the most simultaneous Internet/TV usage minutes, according to Nielsen.

View the full press release.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings by Reuters, the New York Post, the San Jose Mercury News, Media Post, Promo magazine, and TechRadar.com.

Submit questions about Nielsen’s TV/Internet convergence research to Howard Shimmel, who oversees Nielsen’s Convergence Panel, by commenting below.

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 the debate ended at approximately 10:30pm EST.