Nielsen Reports a Decline in Television Viewing

The number of American households with access to a television set and a TV signal is shrinking for the second year in a row.

The data, released by The Nielsen Company, is sure to be pored over by television and Internet executives for evidence of changes in consumer behavior. While the vast majority of American homes still have functioning television sets, more than one million no longer meet Nielsen’s definition of a “TV household:” those that have at least one television set and a cable, satellite or antenna connection. Last year, for the first time in 20 years, Nielsen said the number of such households had dropped to 114.7 million, from 115.9 million previously, despite a rise in the number of households in the country. On May 3, Nielsen said the figure had dropped further, this time to 114.1 million. Nielsen also estimated that the total number of people living in those homes has shrunk, but at a lesser rate — to 289.2 million, down 100,000 from 289.3 million last year. Nielsen attributes the drops both to economic factors and to technological ones.