Nielsen: Overall Viewership on the Rise

NEW YORK: Despite the proliferation of Internet and mobile devices for accessing video content, overall traditional TV viewership increased by 22 minutes per month per person over last year, reports Nielsen in its latest Cross Platform Report.

The TV set is still the dominant source of video content for all demographics, Nielsen reports. The study also indicates that consumers are willing to pay for content; 91 percent of TV households still paid for a TV subscription in Q1 2011.

Meanwhile, mobile video viewing increased by 41 percent over last year, and time-shifted TV is also on the rise.

One of the key new findings is the lightest traditional television users stream significantly more Internet video, and the heaviest streamers under-indexing for traditional TV viewership. This is particularly the case for those aged 18 to 34. "The group of consumers exhibiting this behavior is significant but small," Nielsen says. "More than a third of the TV/Internet population is not streaming, whereas less than 1 percent are not watching TV."