May 2 HDTV By the Numbers
Each year Nielsen produces a Television Audience Report for US households. Its full of numbers and tables. Here are some data from the latest report. We'll discuss the data on the next show.
TV Owernship
The percentage of TV households in the US has been pretty stable since 1970. Back then 96% of US households had at least one TV. It moved to 98% in 1980 and has remained there ever since. Other data:
- Broadcast Only 9%
- Wired Cable 62%
- DBS 29%
- DVR 34%
- HD Receivable 43%
- HD Capable 46%
- HD Display Capable 53%
- DVD 88%
- VCR 65% - peaked in 2005 at 90%
Trends
When I was a kid we had one TV in the house. It was a 27 inch Zenith with a remote control. The only issue was where we lived we could not pick up all the channels very clearly and there was no cable. I remember my dad tweaking the antenna constantly and we could never get the upper VHF channels very clearly. The TV cost the family $600 and we couldn't get the channels we wanted.
When I graduated college in 1985 I got a job paying $27,500 a year and I celebrated by buying a 20 inch RCA color TV for $500. I used that TV for the next 12 years. After I got married (1989) we bought 26 inch RCA and moved the 20 inch to the Bedroom. The new RCA set us back $750. We got 15 years out that TV and it was still working when we gave it away.
Back to my childhood it was rare that people owned two or more TVs. Today I have a TV in the bathroom. I know I'm not the norm but trends in the US are moving to multiple TV ownership.
Average Number of sets by year:
- 1975 1.57
- 1985 1.83
- 1995 2.28
- 2005 2.62
- 2010 2.93
Number of Sets per Household in percent
We've come a long way since I was a kid. TVs have gotten better and cheaper. Today you can buy a 50 inch TV for less than $1000. In 1986 my family bought a Sharp 30 inch set that cost almost $2000. That thing weighed almost 400 pounds. My 50 inch Samsung DLP weighs just 90. If you have any TV stories please share them with us.
Reader Comments (3)
"VCR 65%."
My friends, who know I'm a tech savvy video person, look at oddly when they offer to lend me something on VHS to watch and I say I don't have a VCR. I do actually own one, but it's in the attic and I don't confess to having one under most circumstances.
"DVR 34%"
I'd like to see the trend on DVR's over the years. I'm afraid as the number gets higher, the networks will do their best to figure out how to force us to watch commercials. I can see the day when Cable or DBS cut a deal to kill DVR capability in exchange for cheaper carriage rates (like Neflix has done with delayed movie releases). That's surely grand design behind Hulu. Get people hooked, get them to drop cable or DBS, then put the full commercials back in, where they can't Ffw'd them. They can control streaming, even of someone comes up with a hack to record the streams, they can try to stay one step ahead. In broadcast they can't. The standards are set and they can't really stop recording without the help of the carrier.
I still have my S-VHS hooked up. I paid so much money for the damn thing, I can't justify doing away with it.