Turns Out Americans Are Watching More TV Than Ever
from the not-going-away-just-yet dept
While there's been some talk that other forms of entertainment, such as the internet, were starting to cut into TV watching time, someone apparently forgot to inform Americans. The latest Nielsen numbers show more TV being watched than ever before. Of course, there are plenty of additional factors to consider. As some note in the comments to that post, the high price of gas may make some folks stay at home more often than go out -- potentially leading to more TV watching. Also, it's not clear how much is actual TV watching vs. just leaving the TV on in the background while they do something else (such as surf the internet). The report also finds (not at all surprisingly) that more people are time shifting content they view on TV, though it still seems like a rather small percentage of overall TV watching. On the whole, though, it appears that the demise of TV is still a long ways off.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: tv, us, watching habits
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Maybe, Maybe Not.
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Re: Maybe, Maybe Not.
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Re: Maybe, Maybe Not.
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Internet... the new idiot box !!
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I don't pay for cable, I use:
http://www.hulu.com/ -- Last Comic Standing, Family Guy, American Dad, Simpsons, Scrubs, The Office...
http://www.joost.com/ -- The National Geographic Channel is almost as addicting as the History Channel used to be for me, though there's a lot of other stuff too.
http://www.southparkstudios.com/ -- Every single south park episode is available to watch. Paraphrased from Matt Stone and Trey Parker: "We got sick of having to pirate our own show, so we had our website guys hook us (and all of you!) up!"
http://www.myeasytv.com/ -- Only have tried a few times when bored, but seems to be full of stuff.
...and of course the various Youtube, BreakTV... and Bittorrent sites out there that can get me shows within minutes of airing!
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Re: Internet... the new idiot box !!
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....
My actual TV has been nothing more than a collector of dust and a place to stack my consoles that I don't play anymore.
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idiot box
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not surprising
vh1 has all of these time period shows that i am completely unable to turn away from.
the same is true for a lot of stuff on discovery or the history channel. it sounds stupid, but shows about how stuff is made, or the history of things we use everyday is fascinating for some strange reason.
the strangest phenomenon of all has to be animal planet. i swear they use subliminal messages to hypnotize you into watching their shows. almost every show on animal planet is a copy of a reality show on another network, only with animals instead of people. "animal cops" is cops, only with animals... the show about groomers is a fashion design show, only with dogs... why is that entertaining? i don't like reality shows with people, but for some reason reality tv with dogs is watchable. how is it that i can't stand survivor, but i can inadvertently kill most of an evening watching rodents fight over a hole in the dirt?
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It's the economy
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Always Surprised..
Since then the price has nearly tripled, the channels just over doubled and the content quality (as I hear from friends and see in all other media) hasn't gone up at all.
The sooner I stop seeing ads for these stupid shows everywhere the better.
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Tell-A-Vision
Why not read a book or go outside and get some exercise.
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Re: Tell-A-Vision
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and still they prosecute the "pirates"
I'd dropped off on watching Survivor & Amazing Race until my wife asked me to download a few episodes to catch up. Then, once we were caught up we tried to watch it during the normal broadcast times.
There are other shows, like Lost and Heroes, that I didn't watch when they started. If I wasn't able to download those shows then I probably wouldn't have watched them at all.
I know I'm not the only one with situations similar to this. And as many articles here have demonstrated, there is probably a net gain for content creators/distributors when it comes to grabbing things online. So, I'm still baffled at how reluctant those companies are when it comes to embracing this phenomonon and how eager they are to file lawsuits.
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No Tv!
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No more celebrities
Most of the shit on tv nowadays is not worth watching, but at least if it's recorded, you can FF through the ads and the fluff, which unfortunately is 85% of most shows.
I know this is summer, and it's supposed to be FUN television, but enough with the reality shows. If I have to see 1 more K-list "celebrity" show (aka washed up has-beens needing the money more than the charity they are playing for)
I think I'm going to smash my TV with a sledgehammer.
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TV Watching
None of these methods are the best way to do things
1) Viewers typically don't remember their viewing habits perfectly, i know i couldn't tell you exactly what i watch in a given week...although I may know what I planned to watch
2)Cable boxes are often left on even when no one is in the room although the TV may in fact be off, I know I used to do this all the time until i decided to see if i saved any money on my electric bill by turning off both
3) The Tivo universe is relatively small although a much larger universe then you may see from a phone or box survey, same goes for cable companies like comcast that may share viewer habits with research firms doing these studies. Again you fall into the box is on but the TV is off issue.
I don't think TV is dead, but I think with the emergence of online video portals TV will have a lot to prove to the consumers starting in the year 2011, such as why can't i pick to watch the shows i want when i want to watch them. At that point we will see Cable companies roll out purely on demand viewing. Granted that all depends on when high speed internet rolls out to a larger segment of the population (way too expensive, but to me a necessity) and people start to cancel their cable in droves to watch their shows on portals such as Hulu.com or even just custom made content like Youtube. In reality you can do it now with limited network selection, and grainy picture for your large TV if you have an AV input.
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Re: TV Watching
I feel the Y generation will demand "On Demand" type view of all channels their cable companies provide. (That is if they even use TV as a medium for entertainment.) The future of TV being streamed as On Demand is no doubt the future. As the Y generation reaches age to become a paying customer; I do wonder if cable companies will use these customers requests to push Congress for Net Neutrality. The Y generation plus the laziness of the American people will combine to create fuel for telco companies (which are increasingly becoming integrated with/offer cable services) to convince Congress this is what the people want. Of Course these companies will have launched a brainwashing campaign that it's for the best:
Isnt the internet confusing?! Let us streamline it for you and give you want you want when you want it, just a few remote control clicks or mouse clicks away!!!
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2008 Olympics...
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Re: 2008 Olympics...
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Re: Re: 2008 Olympics...
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I don't watch it much any more.
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Do there numbers include DVR's?
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More TV, More Web Television Pools Network
Let me know what you guys think. If im plugging something worthwhile then i just might continue.
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Can't help but bet on reality tv show outcomes!
I, for one, am an avid DVR user. It's the only way I can catch up with my favorite reality shows. And a year ago I started betting my co-workers and friends on the outcomes of American Idol and SYTYCD. And I've actually used pooling sites like ShowPools.com and find it very useful because it tallies points for you--something I used to do by hand!
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TV
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media isn't straight-shooting, so listening to news
all the time leaves one misinformed, confused, and
frustrated. I tis better to read several good newspapers and magazines, interesting blogs online, and listen to C-span
online, too.
Remember when TV was free, and then cable came in promising
"no commercials". . now people pay a large amount for sub-par programming, replete with info-mercials, commercials, and other
paid programming.
If people would get smart and cancel cable, or reduce to the most basic level, maybe prices for cable packages would come down.
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