Thoughts on Nielsen Study of TV Viewership

"From September 2004 to September 2005 -- what Nielsen defines as the braodcast year -- the average American family viewed eight hours and eleven minutes of TV programming a day, according to figures provided by the measurement firm. That’s up 2.7% from September 2003-04, when the figure came in at eight hours and one minute. A decade ago, from September 1994-95, average total viewing was seven hours and 15 minutes." (AMERICANS WATCH MORE TV THAN EVER)

• Amazingly, viewership of the "CSI" franchise, including its spin-offs and syndicated re-runs, account for 7 of those nearly 8.2 hours.

• Last I checked, there are still only 24 hours in the day. A balanced life might look something like this: 8 hours for school/work, 8 for leisure/family, 8 for sleep. Last year, TV finally achieved what many thought was total dominance, completely consuming our available leisure time. What this means is that leisure time is not the most biggest growth market for TV. Much of the growth has to come at the expense of work and sleep.

• Furthermore, what the Nielsen numbers fail to grasp is that the average number probably would have shot up to 10 hours per day, except for the fact that many viewers now use TIVO out the commercials. On top of that, a growing number are using the technology as an ad hoc editor. For instance, my wife would use TIVO to speed through any portion of any show where Teri Hatcher appears. No commercials and no Hatcher means she could get through an episode of "Desperate Housewives" in as little as 25 minutes.

• Personally, with all the porn channels up in the digital end of the cable spectrum now, my TV viewing has actually declined about twenty minutes per day, as I no longer flip back and forth between the scrambled channels hoping to catch a momentary peek. However, now that E has dumped Tara Reid's "Taradise" and will return to traditional "Wild On" episodes, that number may come back up.