Americans increasingly use TV and internet together
Simultaneous use of the internet while watching TV hit three and a half hours a month in the US in the last quarter of 2009 – up 35% year on year – according to the latest Nielsen Company Three Screen Report.
The report, which tracks media usage across TV, internet and mobile phones, also revealed that nearly 60% of TV viewers now use the internet once a month while also watching TV.
Nielsen Company media product leader Matt O’Grady said: “The rise in simultaneous use of the web and TV gives the viewer a unique on-screen and off-screen relationship with TV programming.
“The initial fear was that Internet and mobile video and entertainment would slowly cannibalize traditional TV viewing, but the steady trend of increased TV viewership alongside expanded simultaneous usage argues something quite different.”
| Dec 2009 | June 2009 | Dec 2008 | % Diff Yr on Yr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| % of Persons Using TV/Internet Simultaneously | 59.00% | 56.90% | 57.50% | 2.70% |
| Estimated Number of Persons Using TV/Internet Simultaneously (000) | 134,056 | 128,047 | 128,167 | 4.60% |
| Time Spent Simultaneously Using TV/Internet Per Person in Hours:Minutes | 03:30 | 02:39 | 02:36 | 34.50% |
| Average % of TV time Panelists spent also using the Internet | 3.10% | 2.70% | 2.40% | 29.70% |
| Average % of Internet time Panelists spent also using TV | 34.00% | 27.90% | 29.90% | 13.90% |
Each week, on average, Americans watched roughly 35 hours of TV and two hours of timeshifted TV via a DVR, said Nielsen, while online video consumption is up 16% year on year.
Active mobile video users grew by 57% from the fourth quarter of 2008 to the fourth quarter of 2009, from 11.2 million to 17.6 million.
“It seems that, for the foreseeable future at least, America’s love affair with the TV will continue unabashed,” said O’Grady. “We seem to have an almost insatiable appetite for media, with online and mobile programming only adding to it.”
Earlier this month, Leichtman Research Group reported that around 25% of all US TV households have a television connected to the internet. The connections vary from connecting through a video game system, a Blu-Ray player, or the TV set itself, said LRG.