From bed to the bus, from Portland to Pittsburgh, consumers are embracing all the various video platforms available to them. According to the Nielsen Cross-Platform Report for Q2 2011, roughly half (48%) of Americans now watch video online, compared to 10 percent for mobile and 97 percent for traditional TV. Even with already near-universal usage levels, traditional TV viewing saw an increase of 2 hours 43 minutes per month—with New Orleans taking the lead as the city that watches the most primetime TV.
When are Americans Watching? Whenever.
Over the past two years, since Q2 2009, timeshifted TV viewing jumped 31 percent with near-constant growth. Americans spend more than quadruple the time per week watching timeshifted content on a TV (via DVR, video on demand or DVD playback) as they do online video.
Americans 25-64 spend the most time watching timeshifted content but Americans 65+ and kids 2-11 are catching up, with heightened growth in time spent in recent quarters. Both groups experienced double-digit growth in time spent over last year, while those middle demographics remained relatively the same. White consumers are the most likely to have a DVR and, compared to all DVR households, timeshift more content than other ethnic groups.
How are Americans Tuning In?
Subscription shifts underscore that Americans are putting a new emphasis on broadband. Nearly three-fourths (72%) of U.S. TV homes pay for both a cable-plus TV subscription (cable, satellite or Telco) and broadband Internet. In fact, households with both cable-plus and broadband saw year-over-year growth of nearly 7 percent.
How Does Geography Factor?
Just as there are viewing differences across age, gender and ethnicity, there are regional differences as well. According to the Nielsen Cross-Platform Report:
Click here to download Nielsen's Q2 2011 Cross-Platform Report
