Nielsen Estimates Number of U.S. Television Homes to be 114.7 Million

May 3, 2011

The Nielsen Company announced the 2012 Advance/Preliminary TV Household Universe Estimate (UE) is 114.7 million, down from 115.9 million in 2011. Marking the first integration of the 2010 Census counts, the 2012 UEs reflect an aging population, as Baby Boomers increasingly shift out of the 35-49 demographic, as well as greater ethnic diversity.

The 2012 UEs also reflect a reduction in the estimated percent of U.S. homes with a television set (TV penetration), which declined to 96.7 percent from 98.9 percent. The last such UEs decline occurred in 1992, after Nielsen adjusted for the 1990 Census, and subsequently underwent a period of significant growth. Potential interrelated factors for the 2012 UE downward shift in TV penetration include:

1. Digital Transition: The summer of 2009 marked a significant milestone with a shift from analog to digital broadcasting. Following the transition, consumers were only able to view digital broadcasts via a set with a built-in digital tuner (i.e., a newer TV set) or an analog TV set connected to a digital-to-analog converter box, cable or satellite. TV penetration first dipped after this transition; the permanence of this trend was acknowledged in 2010 after the number of TV households did not rebound over time.
2. Economics: As with previous periods of belt-tightening, the cost of owning a TV is a factor in this UE decline; TV penetration first saw sustained decreases in second quarter 2009. Lower-income, rural homes were particularly affected.
3. Multiple Platforms: Nielsen data demonstrates that consumers are viewing more video content across all platforms—rather than replacing one medium with another. However, a small subset of younger, urban consumers are going without paid TV subscriptions. Long-term effects of this are unclear, as it’s undetermined if this is also an economic issue, with these individuals entering the TV marketplace once they have the means, or the beginning of a larger shift to viewing online and on mobile devices.

more at: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/media_entertainment/nielsen-estimates-number-of-u-s-television-homes-to-be-114-7-million/

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Oh no! the end of the world is near!

In Europe, the older you are the more likely you are to watch TV. I've read some studies about that. Young people dedicate more time to gaming and especially the Internet. I personally never watch TV.

Is TiVo abvailable in anywhere Europe? I know it's not available here in Romania.

As far as I know, no.

Well, that's a reason people still watch TV then...

I don't watch Cable TV. I basically  just download TV episodes from file hosting sites (I avoid using torrent because the content owners are cracking down on torrent piracy). The internet and gaming also cuts into my time. I had a 30 day free trial with Netflix.ca and used that. But because the streaming library was very limited and I figured I could just download what I want illicitly from those file hosting sites (though this often times takes a lot more effort than using torrents), I cancelled before the free trial was up.

With Cable TV being such a rip-off, I'm not surprised that some households didn't even bother making the switch to go digital.

I still watch a decent amount of TV, but nowhere near as much as I used to.

Come October when I go to University I won't as much, I'm not sure forking out for a TV license is worth it considering I can watch stuff legally online a day later.

We have Sky Plus in the UK. It seems to be a similar concept. You can record certain programs by pressing record on the TV guide, and you can set it to automatically record all episodes of a series. Very handy.

EDIT: Oh noes, I said the UK was part of Europe. For these purposes, let's say it is

Oh, you crazy xenophobic nationalistic brits. Still, I don't think it's available anywhere else in Europe.

Dooooooooooooooooooooomed~