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Americans Have Fewer TVs On Average Than They Did In 2009 (arstechnica.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the parlor-walls dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Americans went from having an average of 2.6 TVs per household in 2009 to having 2.3 TVs in 2015, according to survey data from the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA). The data comes from the agency's Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS), which has been conducted periodically since the 1970s to understand American energy use. The 2015 survey included 5,600 respondents who were contacted in person and then given an option to follow up by mail or online. A fine-detail report on the survey results is due to be released in April 2017. The latest data shows that in 2015, 2.6 percent of households had no TV at all, a jump from the previous four surveys in 2009, 2005, 2001, and 1997 in which a steady 1.2 to 1.3 percent of households didn't own a TV. The 2015 data also showed that the number of people with three TVs or more dropped in 2015. That year, 39 percent of households had more than three TVs, whereas 44 percent had more than three TVs in 2009. Interestingly, the number of households with one or two TVs increased in 2015 to 58 percent, from 54 percent in 2009.

3 of 164 comments (clear)

  1. Per Capita Numbers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Yes, the drop in numbers of TVs per household is interesting. However, isn't the average household size also dropping?

    1. Re: Per Capita Numbers? by Calydor · · Score: 3, Interesting

      What I don't get is why people WANT to watch movies on their phones or tablets instead of reclined in a sofa, looking at a 50" screen or bigger.

      Ignoring the question of OTA, Cable, Satellite or streaming, wouldn't YOU prefer looking at a big screen while eating popcorn or other snacks?

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
  2. Upgrade from older TVs? by mhatle · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I know when I upgraded from pre-digital capable TVs to the new HD TVs... I went way down in TV ownership. I disposed of 5 older TVs, and replaced it with one new TV. Once the last 5 years, I've since upgraded that new TV, and put the older one in a second room.

    My parents, and many of my friends are the same way. They went from a TV in every room, to one main one... and as the main one was upgraded the others have slowly moved to other living spaces.