Average U.S. Home Receives 104 Channels

NEW YORK, March 19: New Nielsen data says that the average U.S. home receives a record 104.2 TV channels, up by almost 8 on 2005, tuning in to almost 16—15.1 percent—for at least ten minutes per week; in 2000, this figure was 22.1 percent, or about 14 channels.

The percentage of homes receiving 100-plus channels rose from 42 percent in 2005 to 47 percent in 2006, with 33 percent receiving between 60 and 99 channels, down 4 percent since 2005.

Dramas still dominate the broadcast networks’ program lineups, Nielsen says, comprising 50 percent (67 out of 134) of the prime-time slate, an increase of 4 programs since last year. However, the total number of prime-time broadcast programs is down slightly on last year, and the number of news programs was down to 4. Comedies fell from 35 to 28, and live variety fell from 15 to 13.

The 30-second commercial is still the television advertising standard in prime time, accounting for 57 percent of all units. The use of the 15-second commercial has decreased in prime time but increased slightly in daytime. In 2006, the total number of commercial units decreased in both prime time and daytime. In primetime, 30-second and 15-second units make up 90 percent of all commercials.

There are an average of 111.4 million TV homes in the U.S. for the 2006-07 TV season. The average U.S. TV home has 2.5 people and 2.8 television sets.