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You Are Still Watching a Staggering Amount Of TV Every Day (recode.net)
Peter Kafka, reporting for Recode:TV! It's cooked! Toast! Doneso. Ready for the fork. Except not yet, because Americans are still watching a ton of TV, every day. For some of them, it's the equivalent of a full-time job. The average American watches an astonishing 4.5 hours of TV a day, according to a new report from Nielsen. Add in DVR time, and that number gets up to 5 hours a day. That usage is shrinking over time -- a couple of years ago, Americans were averaging five hours and twenty-three minutes a day.Nielsen's data also shows that people are now consuming more content on their smartphone devices than ever. Compared to just 47 minutes usage in 2014, it is now up to one hour and 39 minutes.
In before this guy posts:
http://www.theonion.com/article/area-man-constantly-mentioning-he-doesnt-own-a-tel-429
If I'm lucky, I have enough downtime to actually sit and watch a whole hour a day, and that's while I'm eating dinner. If I didn't have a DVR, it wouldn't even be that much. Where is it that anyone these days hase 4.5 hours of free time to sit in front of a television?
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
The headline would appear to direct the assessment it makes about those who read the article, but I read the story and I only watch about 5 hours a week. I may not be typical, but then the headline still uses the second person pronoun.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
What the heck does this have to do with the Digital Equipment Corporation?
The fact of the matter is that they have been struggling for years to keep pace with the barrage of new video consumption choices Americans have. They still don't have a handle on it. And there are many in the broadcast/cable industry who uphold they never really had a good grasp (Those diaries! seriously...?) of who was watching what. Their customers are the broadcasters, not, say YouTube channels or Twitch feeds, so they will always have that bias...
I pretty much have no idea what's going on in the world of media. I can't even name one movie that's in theatres. And I fucking LOVE IT.
There is some amazing content being put on Youtube these days. Watching various makers and machinists on youtube is fascinating stuff for some of us. Or the guy building a 74-foot steel chinese junk in Oklahoma! Between them and the science channels I track, I watch about 30 minutes of youtube each evening.
I also often watch episodes of classic TV shows in the evening, British and American, often from various internet sources.
That does add up, though. Maybe 30-60 minutes a day. Not sure what people are watching to get 4.5 hours a day though! What's actually on TV these days?
I would be really interesting to see some sort of demographic break down on those TV numbers regarding things like income level, geographical location, employment, etc. I have a gut feeling that TV viewing has gone up in some demographics and down in others. Honestly I don't even know many people who watch more than 4.5 hours of TV a week much less a day. But most of my friends play video games instead of watch tv so it's not like we have any stones to throw about sitting on the couch to much.
My kids keep wanting to watch YouTube videos but my problem isn't with them watching more story-based shows, but the quality of random YouTube channels. For example, they love watching people playing video games (either ones they own to get tips/tricks on gameplay or ones they know I'll never buy them because we just don't have enough money to buy every game ever released). There are some great gamer YouTube channels, but also ones where the video starts innocently enough but then delves into language that my wife and I think are inappropriate for a 9 year old and an almost-13 year old. (In the latter case, he's on the Autism spectrum and might take "person says X on YouTube" as a social cue that saying "X" is fine in a school setting - when, in fact, it will get him in severe trouble. He's almost-13 chronologically, about 15 intellectually, but only 8 or 9 socially/emotionally.)
Our solution is to have a firm "channel pre-approval requirement." If the boys want to watch a YouTube channel, they need to tell me which channel and wait for me to watch a few of the videos (without them present). Once I do, I'll tell them whether the channel is fine or not. This doesn't stop them from searching and playing random YouTube channels, but it gives us a consistent household policy.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Those assholes came to my door once asking if I would like to be a "Nielsen" household. They went over the details, and even offered money for the bother.
Let me tell you, whatever they offer, it is not worth it. They come in and connect a comm closet full of equipment to your TV so they can intercept whatever video is being fed to your TV. That would be fine, except their equipment causes all kinds of compatibility issues. They also insist on installing their software on any PC you watch streaming services on. That would also be fine, except their software also collects your non-media browsing habits, and has a keylogger so I can only assume they steal your passwords as well (I only installed their SW in a virtual machine).
But that's just the tip of the iceberg. I told these guys that I rarely watch TV. Perhaps once every couple of weeks when I'm too tired to do something more valuable with my time.
If you don't watch TV for 24 hours, the phone rings. If you don't watch TV for 48 hours, the phone rings every 30 minutes until you answer. They harass you CONSTANTLY to watch more TV. After 5 days they actually send someone to your home to find out why you're not watching TV.
When you _are_ watching TV, you have to hit control buttons on their box every half an hour or so, or the harassment increases.
After about 2 weeks I called them up and told them to come get their shit off my front porch.
Please stop generalizing.
With regards to "your" television watching habits, or just in general?
So they're like the vegans of technology? no wait... those are ones without cellphones/smartphones... ok, the vegans of media... I guess..
Exactly right, Netflix does not reveal it, and why should they? And HBO knows exactly how many people are watching their shows through HBO Go. The content owners of the so-called Over-The-Top distribution of video programming have a granular and Nielsen-free handle on those numbers.
They generate high levels of "Smug".
They just watch TV on their computers, smartphones, and tablets, but they feel superior because they can say "I don't watch TV"
They should be killed on sight....
No, we just hate smug people that can't wait to tell us they don't watch television, and how they're so glad they don't watch television, and how much better they are because they don't watch television.
Watch it or don't, I don't care. But don't preach about it, because doing so just makes you a smug asshat.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
Not to mention Nielsen ratings are only valid for the demographic that participates in Nielsen ratings.
There's more to the consumption pie than the Nielson participants can possibly represent.
~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
I could have watched TV last night, but instead I shot nazi zombies. This is how TV dies. One zombie at a time.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
Perhaps that's part of why certain political views are held in esteem while others are demonized without a rational basis. People let tv tell them what they're 'supposed' to think.
So, out of six people, one watches all the time, and the other NINE watch a bit? Seriously, out of six people, the one + nine watch it??
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
..or maybe they graduated highschool and it takes more than crappy soap operas to entertain them. Face it, a huge percentage of today's tv now uses that model. It's all about feelings and who's doing who. There's nothing smug about moving on from highschool drama.