Neilsen's "Three Screen Report" - how we watch video

Earlier this week I was reminiscing with a new client about the days when video meant broadcast or tape. Media measurement guru Neilsen's report for Q1 of 2009 depicts clear age segmentation in how we ingest video today, with so many more choices than a couple of decades ago. The article includes a link to a four-page report in PDF format. Courtesy of DigitalTrends.com, here are the key findings:

"According to Nielsen, traditional TV usage in the United States is still at an all-time high, with Americans sucking down roughly 153 hours of television a month. (Do the math, people: that’s over five hours a day!) When broken down by age, though, certain trends seem to emerge: teenagers are most enthused about mobile video, watching an average of 6.5 hours of video on their phones every month, and young adults (ages 18–24) seem to be the most serious users of both online video and DVRs, timeshifting almost 6 hours of video a month and watching a little over five hours of video online.

Although mobile and online video still aren’t a very big slice of American’s video pie, both are gathering steam: consumption of mobile video has increased 52 percent since the first quarter of 2008, with more than 13 million Americans watching some form of mobile video. Use of online video saw a 13 percent increase over the same period, with over 131 million Americans tapping into some form of online video in the first quarter of 2009."

Of particular interest to advertisers who wonder if Internet video is right for them, the report download reveals that while Internet use has risen only 3.2% year over year, Internet video viewing is up 13% in the same period. Either of these increases would look good to most business owners and operators today. Maybe there's a hint here for those who haven't made the commitment.

Now Hear This

You will hopefully have noticed a new option above each post, offering an audio version of the content. You may listen, save or opt in to my Podcasts via iTunes, iPhone, Zune (my choice) and other options available when you select the "Subscribe to My Podcast" option above the "odiogo.com" button. Their service, free to podcasters, uses software to translate text into speech and it does a remarkably good job of it, creating mp3 files easily small enough to email and post to the web. Like me, the program responds to punctuation. The rhythm of the reading is markedly improved when it knows where to pause. Give it a try and let me know what you think. I often opt for listening over reading when the choice is offered, because I can do something else at the same time. If you share the habit perhaps you'll find this an improvement and if not, don't listen.