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Nielsen: You sure have a lot of TVs

The media researcher finds that a lot of Americans have four--or more!--televisions in their homes, and aren't shy about using them.

Don Reisinger
CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
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Don Reisinger
2 min read
You're using this thing a lot. CBS Interactive

There might not be a TV in every room in your house, but it wouldn't be surprising if there were.

As of November, according to media researcher Nielsen, 29.9 percent of TV-owning households in the U.S. have four or more televisions--that's very close to one-third of the 115 million domestic domiciles that have at least one television set.

Among the other, relatively impoverished TV households, 25.1 percent have three sets, 28.3 percent have two, and 16.7 percent have a measly single TV.

As you might expect, that many televisions translates to some lofty numbers in other TV-related sectors. Nielsen found that 103.6 million U.S. homes are cable- or satellite-ready. Approximately 51 million American homes have digital cable.

The market has also moved decidedly towards high definition. Nielsen said that 47.4 million homes in the U.S. are HD-capable.

Meanwhile, Americans are moving away from older tape technology. Nielsen found that there are 75.8 million VCRs in American homes today, down 10 percent since 2007. There are currently 101 million DVD players in households, which represents a slight (1 percent) increase since 2007. But it was the DVR that enjoyed the most growth over the past three years. Nielsen said that there are currently 36.7 million DVRs in homes across the U.S., a 12 percent increase since 2007.

Of all the video content consumed in the U.S., just about all of it--99 percent--is still delivered via the television, Nielsen reported. The average American watches a whopping 31.5 hours of television per week, while kids between the ages of six and 11 watch 28 hours of live TV every week. An average DVR user watches nearly eight hours of time-shifted television each month, representing a 22.5 percent gain over 2008 figures. (Those findings jibe with figures released in December by the University of California at San Diego, which concluded that "a large chunk of the average American's day is spent watching television.")

Maybe it's me, but I find those figures shocking. The average American almost makes TV watching a full-time job. Wow.

What are your thoughts on Nielsen's study? Let us know in the comments below.