Nielsen Reports that Internet and Mobile Usage Continues to Increase, As TV Usage Rises to an All-Time High

New York, NY, November 24, 2008– The Nielsen Company announced today in its second “A2/M2 Three Screen Report” that U.S. usage of TV, Internet and Mobile – the Three Screens – continues to increase.  As of third quarter 2008, the average person in the U.S. watched approximately 142 hours of TV in one month.  In addition, people who used the Internet were online 27 hours a month, and people who used a mobile phone spent 3 hours a month watching mobile video (See Tables 1 and 2 inFull PDF Download of release.).

Furthermore, the average time a U.S. home used a TV set during the 2007-08 television season was up to 8 hours and 18 minutes per day, a record high since Nielsen started measuring television in the 1950’s (See Table 3 in Full PDF Downloadof release).

The full “A2/M2 Three Screen Report” is available at http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire.

“Americans keep finding more time to spend with the three screens,” said Susan Whiting, vice chairperson for The Nielsen Company.  “TV use is at an all-time high, yet people are also using the Internet more often – 31% of which is happening simultaneously.” 

Key facts from the report include:

• Americans are spending more time than ever with their televisions, computers and mobile phones, with television remaining the dominant screen, watched more than 142 hrs a month – 5 hours more than last year. 

• Americans spend more than 6 hours per month watching timeshifted TV, which is more than double the amount of time they watch video online. 

• Men are more likely than women to watch video on mobile phones, while women are more likely then men to watch video on the Internet.

• During the third quarter, there was no shortage of online video content with events including the Olympics, Major League baseball games, the political conventions and debates, and the financial crisis. Online video use grew steadily through the quarter. 

Whiting continued, “Our numbers show that TV remains the dominant choice for most Americans, yet timeshifting as well as videos on the Internet and on mobile phones, continue to be the trends to watch.”

The TV and Internet figures are calculated using Nielsen’s National TV and Internet panels which are measured electronically and reported on a regular basis. The Mobile phone figures are collected by Nielsen via a quarterly survey, and give a firsthand look at how early adopters report their usage of mobile video. (See Table "Table 1 Monthly Time Spent in Hours: Minutes Per User 2+", "Table 2 Monthly Time Spent in Hours: Minutes 3Q 2008" and "Table 3: TV Tuning – A 10-Year Trend" in Full PDF Download version of release.)