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Monday, December 1, 2008
Couch spuds logging more viewing time, UT’s ABC News Campus Bureau getting KVUE time
While we can watch TV shows on computers and even on our cell phones, we’re still a nation of loyal couch potatoes who prefer plopping down in front of our big-screen sets.
Nielsen reports that TV use is at an all-time high now, with home TVs turned on for an average of 8 hours and 18 minutes a day. That’s an hour more than the average viewing time a decade ago.
During the fall, when the Olympic Games and presidential debates were sucking us in, Americans gobbled up more than 142 hours of TV a month. That’s more than 4.5 hours a day.
New media options remain the trend to watch, but they’re not taking over yet.
Nielsen found that people who use the Internet spent about 27 hours a month online, with about 2.5 hours of that time watching TV programs and videos. But that’s nothing compared to actual TV viewing.
The bigger trend, which is no surprise, is that DVR viewing doubled last year, with Americans logging about 6.5 hours each month watching TV shows time-shifted by recording. And nearly 30 percent of TV households now have digital video recorders, so we can look for this trend to grow.
And people who have DVRs watch more TV shows because they don’t have to choose between two or three competing programs — and they don’t have to miss anything because they didn’t get home in time.
No wonder we don’t read enough books or exercise enough! We don’t have time!!
ABC News’ UT Campus Bureau
The University of Texas’ ABC News On Campus Bureau has made a deal with KVUE to introduce and package one or two reports a week live on the station’s weekend morning show.
“It’s such an incredible opportunity for them,” crowed UT faculty advisor Kate Dawson of her energetic team.
We’ll be watching.
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