Americans Still Watch 99% Of Video On TVs: Nielsen

Web video may be the buzz of the TV industry, but Americans still spend the vast majority of their time watching video -- approximately 99% -- on traditional televisions, according to Nielsen's latest "three screens" report. In the third quarter, the average American spent 31 hours, 19 minutes per week watching traditional TV, compared with 31 minutes watching time-shifted TV, 22 minutes of Internet video and just 3 minutes on a mobile phone, according to Nielsen's Anytime Anywhere Media Measurement (A2/M2) Three Screen Report for the period. Even among those 18-24 -- a cohort that typically consumes the most online video of any age group -- viewing is largely on TVs, with the demographic registering 22 hours, 44 minutes of traditional TV watching in the period compared with 35 minutes of Internet video and 19 minutes spent watching time-shifted TV. Nielsen's definition of "TV watching" includes live usage plus any playback viewing within the measurement period, while "time-shifted TV" is playback primarily on a DVR but includes playback from VOD, and services like Time Warner Cable's Start Over.