U.S. Media Consumption on the Rise, Says Nielsen

NEW YORK: Releasing its latest Three Screen Report, Nielsen says that Americans are continuing to increase their overall media consumption across TV, online and mobile, watching an average of 141 hours of television per month in the second quarter.

This is a two-hour increase on levels watched a year ago, Nielsen reports. In addition, the average American is watching more than seven hours of time-shifted TV per month, up from six hours last year. Time spent on watching video on the Internet has risen from two hours to a little over three hours. Time spent watching mobile video has remained stable, however the number of people watching mobile video increased by 70 percent from last year.

“Although we have seen the computer and mobile phone screens taking on a significant role, their emergence has not been at the cost of TV viewership,” said Jim O’Hara, the president of media product leadership at The Nielsen Company. “The entire media universe is expanding so consumers are choosing to add elements to their media experience, rather than to replace them.”

The research also shows that 57 percent of consumers with Internet access at home watch TV and go online simultaneously at least once a month. On average these consumers spend 2 hours, 39 minutes each month simultaneously using the Internet while also watching TV. There are also more TVs in each home than people— in 2009 the average U.S. home had only 2.5 people vs 2.86 television sets.