Television viewing during the 2006-2007-television year stayed at the record levels set in the previous year, while the number of homes with Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) more than doubled according to the Nielsen Company.
The total average time a household had a TV set on in the past year was 8 hours and 14 minutes per day. The average amount of television viewed by individuals dropped by 1 minute per day to 4 hours and 34 minutes.
The number of households with DVRs stands at 20.5 percent, up form 17 percent in May 2007. When Nielsen started including households with DVRs in its samples in January 2006, DVR penetration was projected to be in about 8 percent of households.
Patricia McDonough, Senior Vice President of Planning Policy & Analysis at Nielsen Media Research said, There are numerous screens competing for time and attention as well as consumer devices providing new ways for viewers to watch their favorite shows.”
Around 16 percent of U.S. Internet households watch TV broadcasts online, according to The Conference Board and TNS. TV programs on the Internet have replaced news programs as the most widely viewed online content. eMarketer estimates that by 2011 there will be 200 million broadband Internet users. Of those, 183 million or 91 percent will watch online videos.
Paul Verna, senior analyst at eMarketer said, “Rather than a wholesale shift in viewership from TV to the new-media channels, both media will actually grow in the next several years,” Mr. Verna said. “Internet video will entrench itself in the content mainstream, right alongside TV, albeit not in such pervasive numbers.”
