About 98 percent of the average five hours of daily viewing of videos in the United States are still being watched on traditional TV sets, according to the recently released Nielsen Cross-Platform Report. This means that while people are shifting to new technologies and devices that make it easier for them to watch the video they want, whenever and wherever they want, the fact remains that they are not “turning off” their TVs.
TV screen remains the dominant platform on which to consume video content, but the means by which the content is delivered appear to be shifting. Traditional—live and timeshifted—TV viewing remains the primary role of the TV, accounting for more than 33 hours per week despite a decline one half of one percent in time spent compared to the fourth quarter of 2010.
Consoles have become a secondary gateway to TV content, and can now be found in 45 percent of TV homes. The integration of Netflix and other streaming apps, Blu-ray players, social gaming and point of purchase into game consoles are adding up and contributing to the growth of content consumption. According to Nielsen’s report, households without children are leading the way in new game console adoption, demonstrating that game consoles are appealing to a range of audiences for a variety of purposes.
Meanwhile, smartphones are increasingly becoming portable TVs with their improving screens, Internet connectivity and the advantage of being “the best screen available” while on the go. In fact, according to Nielsen, 33.5 million mobile phone owners now watch video on their phones—up 35.7 percent from last year. However, while mobile phones won’t replace other screens anytime soon, these devices are part of the ever-increasing number of ways in which consumers consume content.