via Television Bureau of Advertising:

A18+ was the bases for estimates for newspapers, consumer books, consumer magazines, out-of-home, yellow pages, home video and in-flight entertainment.

P12+ was the bases for estimates for Total TV, radio, recorded music, movies in theaters, videogames, consumer Internet and mobile content.

(1) Total TV includes Network-affiliated stations, Independent and Public stations, and Basic and Premium Cable, Satellite & RBOC Networks.

(2) Internet and mobile use of traditional media, such as downloaded music, newspaper websites or info alerts, e-books, cable modems, online video of TV programs and internet radio, was included in the traditional media segment, not in pure-play internet or mobile content. Pure-play internet and mobile services includes telecommunications access, such as DSL and dial-up, but not cable modems, pure-play content, such as eHarmony, GameSpy and MobiTV, and mobile instant messaging and e-mail alerts.

(3) Playback of prerecorded VHS cassettes and DVDs only.

Source: Veronis Suhler Stevenson Twenty-Second Edition 2009-2013

I’m enjoying the third season of Californication more than that fourth season of Dexter and judging from the numbers, that puts me in very selective group (AKA so small  of a group that it’s almost nonexistent!).

I’m also enjoying this season of Curb Your Enthusiasm more than Dexter, but Dexter is attracting more viewers than it, too.

World War II in HD cruised past its competition both with overall viewers and with adults 18-49.

Sunday cable finals via “Travis Yanan“:

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Reports of the demise of television watching continue to be premature. People may be spending time watching video online, downloading torrents, playing video games, and whatever else, but they’re continuing to watch more TV on average as well.

For the 2008-2009 TV season, the amount of television watched reached an all-time high as Americans spent four hours and 49 minutes a day on average in front of the TV, up four minutes from last year and up 20% from 10 years ago.

via Nielsen Wire.

Clicking through to the source you’ll learn that primetime viewing was flat vs. last year, but still on a slow upward trend over the period since 1991.

The reason this is surprising to most people is that broadcast network viewing continues to slide, as it has for more than a generation, but that slide has been more than made up by the gains for advertising supported cable networks.

Bedeviled by rain delays (and the Tampa Bay Rays), the 2008 World Series had the lowest average viewership ever (13.6 million). Barring a 4 game sweep plus something else extraordinary, the 2009 World Series featuring the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies should easily beat those ratings. The last time the Yankees were in the World Series (2003) the average viewership topped 20 million. I think a seven game series this year could test the 20 million level. Anything shorter than seven games and I think that 17 million average looks like a reasonable target.

In this century, for World Series average viewership to break 20 million, it requires the Yankees or the Red Sox. Although in 2000, even the Yankees couldn’t pull an all NY matchup above 20 million.

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A story in the NY Times today discusses some changes that the Emmy Awards producers tried (and failed) to make to boost the ratings for the show that fell to its lowest level in nearly two decades last year (historical data below).

I think fiddling with the broadcast format misses the bigger problem that is highlighted by this quote from the same article.

If the same, relatively lightly viewed, shows keep winning year after year, why is the ratings slide a surprise?

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The public’s assessment of the accuracy of news is at its lowest levels in two decades according to the latest from Pew Research.

TV still dominant for news

Television was still the most dominant source for both national and local news.

The  most recent biennial media attitudes survey from The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press has a lot of information on how accurate and fair the press is.  They cover a wide range of topics, including that criticism of the press is now more bipartisan, while the Fox News audience is more critical of the press’s performance according to the survey.

You can download the full report in PDF or read the survey overview on the web at The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

In the latest TV provider breakdown from The Bridge show Telco TV services (Verizon FiOS, AT&T U-verse) continuing to take share in the TV provider market primarily at the expense of traditional cable MSOs (Comcast, Cox, Time Warner, etc.), while satellite provider’s (DirecTV, DISH) share inches upwards.

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via Nielsen Wire:

Three Screen Report: Media Consumption and Multi-tasking Continue to Increase Across TV, Internet, and Mobile

Americans are increasing their overall media consumption, and media multi-tasking is part of the equation, according to new data from The Nielsen Company’s most recent Three Screen Report. During 2nd Quarter 2009, the number of people watching mobile video increased 70% from last year and people who watch video online increased their viewing by 46% compared to a year ago. In addition, the average American TV consumption remains at an all-time high (141 hours per month) compared to the same time frame last year.

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