Nielsen, whose efforts to measure television audiences are ambiguous at best, says that we are watching more old television, prompting some childish headlines. According to the study, in the latest quarter:
- Americans viewers watched more than 142 hours a month of old TV – 5 hours more than last year.
- Americans are watching online video for 2 hours and 31 minutes per month.
- The number of homes with DVRs has grown to 27 percent and the time spent watching time-shifted video was about 6 hours and 32 minutes a month.
These numbers are an anomaly — 2008 was an election year, with the citizenry more actively involved in the process than any other election in recent memory. Millions were turning to television — broadcast, cable and the Internet — to keep up with political developments. And just like the viewing numbers, television revenues have been propped up by political ad spend. Next year, oldteevee companies are in for rocky times.
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As a counterpoint to the Nielsen study, Liz over on NewTeeVee has collated together stats from some recent studies that show online video is exploding. Among them:
- Online video viewing is up 35.4 percent year-over-year
- 12 percent of U.S. teens and 11 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds watch online TV at least once a week
- 88 percent of U.S. Internet users are forecast to watch video online by 2012
We must be depressed.
http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/sociss/release.cfm?ArticleID=1789
It is not simply that this was an election year. Historically, when the economy tanks, people watch more TV (and movies as well). Think about it – no extra dollars for a night on the town, the need to escape reality, etc.