Remember that theory about online video cutting into TV time, and dragging ratings down? It got a great workout this year with the writers strike, etc. But it doesn't appear to be true. At least not now. Even through time spent on the Web is growing, so is time in front of the tube.
So says Nielsen, which reports that the average American watched 127 hours of TV in May, up from 121 hours last year. They also spent 26 hours spent on the Web that month, up from 24 hours a year ago.
Surely that stat must be low, right? After all, don't most of us spend 26 hours a month on YouTube alone? No, says Nielsen: We spend an average of 2 hours and 19 minutes a month on online video. In other words -- for every mega Web consumer who, say, reads this blog, there are a whole lot of people who just don't use the Web, period.
May 2008
Time watching TV: 127 hours 15 minutes (up 4% from May 2007)
Time On Internet: 26 hours 26 minutes (up 9%)
Watching Online Video: 2 hours 19 minutes (n/a)
Related: Nielsen: People Watching Less YouTube, Less Video, But More Hulu
Nielsen Takes TV Ratings To PCs, iPods
