Nielsen: Linear TV Viewing Slips, Streaming Continues to Rise

NEW YORK: According to a new report from Nielsen, online video streaming viewing went up 60 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, while traditional TV viewing slid 4 percent during the same period.

Nielsen's latest Total Audience Report finds that Americans' average daily time spent watching live TV decreased by 12 minutes to 4 hours and 32 minutes in Q3. The amount of time spent on time-shifted viewing rose to 30 minutes, up from 28 minutes reported in the year-ago period. Time spent using the Internet increased to 1 hour and 6 minutes, up from just 1 hour in Q3 2013, while time spent using a smartphone rose to 1 hour and 33 minutes, up from 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Digital video usage surged in the period, from 6 hours and 41 minutes reported in Q3 2013 to 10 hours and 42 minutes in Q3 2014.

Demographically, TV viewing by those in the 18-to-49 age group went down 3 percent and digital viewing for everyone, including adults over the age of 55, gained 50 percent.

"Declines in traditional TV viewing have us all searching for the audience, trying to explain the shift away from viewing and away from content," said Dounia Turrill, the senior VP of insights at Nielsen. "Increased opportunities for content discovery on digital platforms, through over the top services, or through media companies’ providing their content online, accessible across an array of devices, all provide a vast media playground for the consumer who is now in control of what they watch and when they watch it."