The Nielsen Company today released figures showing video and TV usage across television, Internet and mobile devices in the US. According to Nielsen, Americans are watching more TV than ever, and Internet video viewing isn’t cutting into time spent watching traditional TV – it’s adding to it.

In other words, the Internet is turning couch potatoes into “mouse potatoes”.

Compared to a year ago:

• Time spent watching TV in the home is up 4%;
• Time spent watching timeshifted TV is up 56%;
• Time spent using the Internet is up 9%;

“Commercial television is alive and well – growing 1% year over year – despite the rapid adoption of other platforms,” said John Burbank, chief marketing officer for The Nielsen Company. “Moreover, timeshifting represents less than 5% of total viewing.”

“Web video is changing the definition of the Internet for those under the age of 24. Those under 24 use the Internet less than older users but spend a greater percent of time viewing video. For instance, children 2-11 spend relatively little time on the Internet – just 4:58 vs 38:47 for adults 35-44. But much more of their time is likely spent watching video than checking email or traditional websites.” Burbank concluded.

Other highlights of their research:

• Two hundred twenty million Americans have Internet access at home and/or work and 73%, or 162 million went online in May.
• Watching video on the Internet is no longer a novelty; 119 million unique viewers viewed 7.5
  billion video streams in May 2008.
• 91 million Americans (36% of all mobile phone subscribers in the U.S.) owned a video-capable phone.

Image: Dan Perry