We seem to have constant discussions underway in our comments about how TV watching is doomed, a relic, being overwhelmed by the internet, DVDs, computer games, the next latest and greatest thing. Trouble is, and we’ve covered this many times, it’s just not true.
Average viewing per household continues to increase through the end of last season (2007-8). Who knows when that trend may reverse, but it certainly hasn’t happened yet. Now it is true that broadcast network TV viewing has been losing TV viewing share to advertising supported cable for nearly 30 years, but that speaks more to the future prospects of the broadcast networks than TV overall.
Some things in that chart I found interesting:
- Today, Women 18+ average 10% more viewing than Men 18+, but in ‘84-’85 it was nearly 20% more.
- I’m not sure what happened between 84-85 and 89-90, but Men’s average viewing stayed constant while the other groups took some big dives.
The chart above is from the latest Nielsen Television Audience Report.
Copyright © 2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved
Note: Current data based on 2007-2008 data based on viewing from 9/24/07-9/21/08.
Persons data based on Live PUT viewing, plus DVR playback.
33:13 hours of television a week for 2007-2008 for all people, on average? That’s what, 4 hours and 43 minutes (give or take) a day? Heh, I must be one of those folks dragging the average down, I don’t even log 10!
Funny how the average jumps once DVR’s become more common. I think time shifting has let people watch on their own terms resulting in more watching overall.
I’d bet that all of those “latest and greatest” things are cutting into TV viewing time on one end. It’s just that the DVR is giving it back on the other end.
I know I personally watch more TV thanks to the DVR.
Hmmm…my guess is–and this is just a guess–the 84-85 versus 89-90 dip has to do with the expansion of “Home Video Libraries” outpacing the growth of cable audiences. And the increase in viewing time from 00-04/05 is at least somewhat related to an increase in ticket prices + an increase in real estate $$ + and increase in production costs–largely due to the marginalization of film stock as an ostensible consumer format–resulting in a decrease of theatrical style movie releases. That and the fact that blockbuster-ish stuff seems to arrive on cable more quickly. Plus the fact premium cable has drawn an R-rated audience that hasn’t been extensively serviced by Hollywood releases lately. Again, I have no data to back these assumptions up.
hmmm i wonder if they count 40 min dvr’d shows as an hour
A trend can be downwards even if individual fluctuations go up – do i need to draw a picture? *g*
“i wonder if they count 40 min dvr’d shows as an hour”
No, if you watch an hour show in 40 minutes by skipping commercials it’s counted as 40 minutes.
Kermonk, please provide that picture! TV viewing has gone up over four out of every five years for the last four decades. It’s the occasional declines that are anomalies.
TV viewing goes up and up while online video companies hemorrhage money….and TV is doomed.
Mikey is correct, if you FF’d past 20 minutes of commercials and watch 40 minutes of a one hour show on a DVR as a Nielsen Family, you are counted as 40/60ths of an average viewer. However for C+3 commercial ratings you wouldn’t be counted at all.
As far as the 85 to 89 decline goes: was VCR viewership included in the 89 numbers? That decline lines up nicely with the adoption of VCRs, though it wouldn’t surprise me if some declines were due to videogames (the NES revived the US videogame market around then, didn’t it?)
What is more interesting to me is the sudden jump from 00 to 04. My gut says this is due to the expansion (both in number and national coverage) of targeted demo cable networks – men had FX, women had HGTV, Children had Disney, etc. Increased number of sets per home may also be a factor (if the wife has control over the only set in the home, the husband will kill time in the garage; now he just watches his set in the basement).
The TV Land thread actually touches on a similar theme. Shows like The Dick Van Dyke Show, All in the Family, The Cosby Show and on and on have been out on DVD for years, without syndication cuts. (Why, you can’t even spell Dick Van Dyke without DVD).
But there’s something about broadcasting a random episode and watching it with 280,000 other people that makes the experience fresh again. If these shows disappear from the schedule, people get agitated. They want to watch them on TV.
DVD certainly doesn’t replace TV. It seems doubtful video-on-demand will.
Is it a trend or is there just more penetration in the metrics used to measure audience size versus 07 or 85 given the demographic and traditional role changes in the last decades. The baby boomers are getting older, less active, more time to watch TV, men are more apt to be out of work where as women are more apt to be working than in 85. I personally think the audience for TV is even larger than can be measured and quantified to date so any uptick/down tick is more error correction in the sampling dynamics than a definite change, but we are getting a more realistic picture of audience than ever before.
Ok, TV viewership is increasing from what this shows, but one thing I’m curious about is, if you’re a Nielsen family, you probably watch more TV than another family, mainly because you’re a Nielsen family. Is there any way these numbers might be inaccurate for that reason? Because the Nielsen families are probably watching TV at least in part because they’ve got the Nielsen box.
I understand none of that may matter because all that matters is the numbers that are given, but might there be an aspect of TV viewership increases that is not being properly represented?
Also – I know we don’t really see numbers from hulu, I assume the networks see those numbers… but do the advertisers? Also, are advertisers paying less for television now? Or is that just broadcast television.
I love periodic posts like these because from the talk, you’d think TV is merrily marching toward obsolescence. So thank you for the reminder. It’s not that audiences are watching less TV; it’s that they’re watching less BAD TV (i.e. less broadcast network TV).
How many people here do watch 4 + hours of tv per day? That is the average right? So considering people coming to this site have an aditional interest in TV OUR average should be even higher.