After climbing by 2 million homes last year, the number of TV homes in the US has grown by another 1.2 million this year to reach 119.6 million for the upcoming season, according to Nielsen’s latest TV Universe estimates. Some 304.5 million Americans aged 2 and older live in those TV homes, up 0.9% from last year.
Increases have been observed in the number of US Hispanic, black and Asian TV households once again, resulting from a rise in population growth and TV penetration.
Nielsen defines a TV household as one that “must have at least one operable TV/monitor with the ability to deliver video via traditional means of antennae, cable set-top-box or satellite receiver and/or with a broadband connection.”
This year, 96.5% of US homes with TVs receive traditional TV signals and/or a broadband connection, up from 96% last year.
A recent study from the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) indicated that the TV set is still the device with the broadest penetration in the US, reaching 96% of US homes. The CTA estimates that Americans own 308 million TV sets, which equates to roughly one per person.
In a more recent release, the CTA noted a burgeoning market for 4K UHD TVs, forecasting a 53% increase in unit sales this year to 17 million units.
Meanwhile, traditional TV viewing trends are cleaving along age lines, with time spent dropping significantly among those younger than 35 and increasing marginally among those older than 65.
Presumably, the younger population’s decline in traditional TV viewing time is migrating in some part to digital video – and the TV set has a foothold there, too.
Despite the rise of mobile devices, the TV set remains the primary device for video viewing overall. The TV set’s influence extends to digital video: indeed, OTT devices such as Roku and Apple TV are becoming ever more influential in digital video. Moreover, enabled smart TVs (39%) and multimedia devices (38%) are now in almost 4 in 10 households.
