News: More than Half the Homes in U.S. Have Three or More TVs

New findings from Nielsen's Television Audience Report show that in 2009 the average American home had 2.86 TV sets, which is roughly 18% higher than in 2000 (2.43 sets per home), and 43% higher than in 1990 (2.0 sets).

In addition, there continue to be more TVs per home than people - in 2009 the average U.S. home had only 2.5 people vs 2.86 television sets.

This year about 54% of homes in the U.S. had more than 3 or more television sets, 28% had 2 television sets and only 18% had 1 television set.

There are 114.5 million TV homes in the U.S. in 2009

• 38% of U.S. TV homes have digital cable.
• 88% have a DVD player, while VCR fell to 72%.
• 82% of homes have more than 1 television set.
• 11% of U.S. TV homes only have the capability to receive TV reception “over the air”.
• These homes have neither cable nor ADS.

Download the complete Nielsen report: CLICK HERE

Source: Nielsen & USA Today

News: 2.8 Million Homes Still Unready for Transition to Digital TV

By Frank Macek

In their last report issued on Wednesday before the June 12th switch to all digital tv, Nielsen is reporting that 2.8 million homes across the nation are still unready for the transition with just two days to go.

This number is nearly half what it was in February when President Obama requested a delay from February 17th to June 12th. Nielsen reports the number of homes "unready" fell from 5.8 million to 2.8 million by Wednesday.

Nielsen also estimated that 36% of "unready" TV sets from November 2008 were ready as of the end of April. Most purchased a digital converter box (70%), while some subscribed to cable (20%) and the rest to satellite (10%).

The Cleveland/Akron/Canton DMA is the 12th most "unready" market of the 56 metered by the ratings company. This translates into 3.67% or 55,965 homes that still need to take steps to receive all digital signals by Friday or lose their over-the-air (OTA) coverage.

Nationwide, African Americans and Hispanic homes are disproportionately "unready", while those aged 55+ are most prepared.

If you are wondering how Nielsen determines an "unready" vs "ready" tv set, an "unready" set is one that IS NOT connected to a cable service, satellite service, or a digital converter box - or is a newer tv with an internal digital tuner.

To read or download the complete report: CLICK HERE

Source: Nielsen

Update: 3.5 Million TV Households STILL Completely Unready for DTV

By Frank Macek

The latest numbers from the end of April continue to show people unprepared for the switch to digital television on June 12th.

With seven weeks to go, 3.5 million or 3.1% of U.S. households remain completely unready. That means that when analog stations sign off, they will be without any over the air reception.

The good news is this number has decreased by 100,000 households according to Nielsen.

• Hispanic households improved four-tenths of a percentage point.
• African American households were unchanged.
• Households with younger adults saw a two-tenths of percentage point improvement.

Of the 56 local metered markets surveyed, Albuquerque-Sante Fe is the most unprepared market with 8.77% completely unready.

The only totally DTV ready market continues to be Providence-New Bedford, with Hartford & New Haven next best.

The Cleveland/Akron/Canton Market is the 9th WORST prepared market with 4.62% of households unprepared. That is up from 10th WORST just two weeks ago.

Source: Nielsen

Spotlight Feature: DVR's Are Changing the Way Americans Watch TV

By Frank Macek

It's no secret DVRs have been changing the way Americans watch TV. The real news is how fast it's happening.

People are increasingly watching TV on their own schedules, instead of the broadcasters. The good news is Americans are watching more TV than ever before.

According to a new report by Nielsen, 30.6 percent of households in Nielsen's National People Meter Panel now have a DVR as of March 2009...that is up from 12.3 percent in January 2007.

This can be contributed to the integration of DVRs into cable and satellite boxes. Standalone DVRs accounted for only 5% of this amount. Many households have more than 1 DVR...25% had two...5% had 3 or more in their homes.

The report also found programs recorded between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. were played back within the same day more often than those airing at 10 p.m. Therefore, DVR playback may have impacted live viewership of programs at 10 p.m. and later, including late news.

The highest playback times during the week occurred during prime Monday through Thursday, then fell to its lowest level on Saturday evening. Playback during the day Saturday and Sunday was greater than on weekdays, as viewers used the weekend to catch up.

Also because DVR users watched more original telecasts of series than non-DVR users, they were less likely to watch previously unseen episodes. This has implications for the programming of reruns in the summer as networks are being faced to air original content year round.

You can download and read the entire report from Nielsen: CLICK HERE

News: February Sweeps moving to March for 2009

Nielsen, the tv ratings firm, has announced that the February sweeps period in 2009 will move from February to March next year.

With the move from analog to all digital TV on February 17, 2009, Nielsen feels that keeping sweeps during the same month might be an inaccurate assessment of a local station's performance.

Also, Nielsen will begin to test ratings collections on digital-only stations this December.

To read more from Broadcasting and Cable: CLICK HERE

News: New HDTV Study Released

Nielsen has released a new study that finds 13.7% of TV households in the U.S. are equipped with an HD television and HD tuner capable of receiving signals in HD (HD Capable), while 11.3% are equipped with an HD television and HD tuner and receive at least one HD network or station (HD Receivable).

Los Angeles has the highest penetration of HD Capable homes (20.4%) and New York has the highest penetration of HD Receivable homes (17.5%). Nielsen also reports that among U.S. Hispanic or Latino households, 10.4% are HD Capable and 8.2% are HD Receivable.

Among African-American households, 8.1% are HD Capable and 6.9% are HD Receivable.

To view the charts and tables, you can download the study: CLICK HERE

Courtesy: Nielsen

News: Sweeps Dates for 2008

For those of you interested in TV sweeps dates, here is a list of the 2008 dates issued by Nielsen:

January 2008: 1/3-1/30
February 2008: 1/31-2/27
May 2008: 4/24-5/21
July 2008: 7/3-7/30
October 2008: 10/2-10/29
November 2008: 10/30-11/26

News: HDTV Owners Love New TV, Dislike Programming

According to new study from Nielsen, HDTV owners are generally satisfied with the picture quality of the programming they receive.

However, the figures also show those same owners are less than thrilled about HD programming choices currently available.

About 85% of the queried HD households ranked picture quality as "above average" or "excellent" while only 39% gave those ratings to programming selections.

The study also found owners who frequently watch HDTV at home gave the following responses about the types and networks they watched most for each:

Sports (42.8%) - Most watched ESPN HD
Movies (38.0%) - Most watched HBO HD
Scripted Dramas (28.1%) - Most watched CBS HD
Documentaries (23.8%) - Most watched Discovery HD
Scripted Comedies (19.4%) - Most watched CBS HD
Reality Programming (11.1%) - Most watched Fox HD
Music (9.6%) - Most watched PBS HD

Read the entire study, CLICK HERE

Courtesy: Nielsen.com

News: Nielsen Releases New 2008 TV Market Rankings

Nielsen has released the local television market universe estimates for 2008 which will be effective September 22nd for the 2007-2008 TV season. These determine market sizes for each city based on the number of TV Homes in Designated Market Areas (DMA).

This year, many of the increases are in the Southern and Western regions of the United States. Of the 51 markets that moved up in rank, more than half are located in the Sunbelt. These changes are consistent with the U.S. Census Bureau's most recent annual population estimates, which indicate increased population growth in these areas.

The Cleveland-Akron-Canton DMA remains #17 with an estimated 1,533,710 TV homes, or a 1.36% percentage of US TV homes.

These estimates, which are projected to January 1, 2008, will be used in meter market samples beginning with the data of Sept. 22, 2007, and in diary samples with the publication of the October/November surveys.

Notable changes in the rankings:

GAINERS

*Dallas-Fort Worth moved up 1 to #5, surpassing San Francisco
*Atlanta moved up 1 to #8, surpassing Washington, D.C.
*Phoenix moved up 1 to #12, surpassing Tampa-St. Petersburg
*Charlotte moved up 1 to #25, surpassing Indianapolis
*Harlingen-Weslaco, Texas, moved up 3 to #88
*Boise, Idaho, moved up 5 to #113
*Palm Springs, Calif., moved up 5 to #144
*Anchorage, Alaska, moved up 4 to #150
*Harrisonburg, Va., moved up 3 to #178
*Lima, Ohio, moved up 11 to #185

LOSERS

*Memphis moved down 3 to #47
*Dayton, Ohio, moved down 4 to #62
*Youngstown, Ohio, moved down 3 to #106
*Traverse City-Cadillac, Mich., moved down 3 to #116
*Wichita Falls, Texas-Lawton, Okla., moved down 3 to #149
*Bluefield-Beckley-OakHill, W.Va., moved down 5 to #155
*Wheeling, W.Va.,-Steubenville, Ohio, moved down 4 to #159
*Hattiesburg-Laurel, Miss., moved down 3 to #168

To view the complete list of markets from #1 to #210: CLICK HERE

Courtesy: Nielsen