The time spent watching television continues to grow among Americans with average monthly viewing of traditional TV climbing to 159 hours, Internet streaming content growing to 4.5 hours and the mobile device viewing reaching 4 hours, according to Nielsen's latest quarterly "Cross-Platform Report."
However, Nielsen identified a new subset of viewers, led by those ages 18 to 34, who are the heaviest at-home streamers and are watching less traditional TV than the population in general. The report finds the lightest TV viewers are heavier streamers.
According to the Cross-Platform Report for Q1 2011:
- Overall viewership increased over the Q1 2010 level. Close to 66 percent of U.S. homes have an HDTV;
- Americans are consistently willing to pay for high-quality TV content;
- Asians watch less traditional TV than the general population — more than a third less than Whites and half as much as African Americans—but more Internet video. African Americans watch the most video content across traditional TV and mobile. Hispanic mobile subscribers are the most likely to have a smart phone and the most likely to opt for satellite TV.
