Since this seems to be “TV Week” here on the blog I thought I’d share this story.
I found this link via tvbythenumbers.com which has become one of my favorite sites. Rather than tell you what it says I’ll just quote the paragraph (which is succinctly packed with information)…
Pardon me if I mention a few inconvenient facts that have surfaced in recent weeks. First, Nielsen reported TV viewing is at its highest point in history. That means in the entire 59 years since the company began compiling time-spent statistics, the numbers have never been bigger. To be more specific, the latest data shows the average American household, per day, spends eight hours and 21 minutes in front of the television. Men spend four hours and 49 minutes watching, and women spend five hours and 25 minutes. And teens, that demo that we “lost” to Facebook, YouTube and the iPod? They spend an average of three hours and 27 minutes per day watching television, and that’s also an all-time high.
and…
Some key findings: 99 percent of viewing in the past year was done on a “traditional” television set; less than 5 percent of TV viewing was DVR playback; and YouTube, Hulu and all other Web/cell phone media accounted for less than 1 percent of viewing.
The truly sad thing about the above numbers is that a lot of tech people, if they don’t flat out deny them, will be shocked. The going consensus in the tech blogosphere seems to think Internet has already made TV obsolete. I specifically remember a study in December that claimed…well…let me just dig up the quote again…
Some of this comes as no surprise, as younger people tend to be early adopters. The millennials embrace gaming, music, the Internet, and user-generated content. They’re less likely to read newspapers, watch TV, read formal news sites, or visit traditional shopping and product review sites. Their preferred way of absorbing content is watching video on the web and handheld devices or listening to music on mobile phones and MP3 music players.
Now after reading that I’ll ask the same question I asked in December: Do you really think students prefer viewing their TV in a tiny window on their computer screen? Or is it possible they might prefer a large HDTV with Surround Sound?
I mean, I’m as much a fan of Hulu as the next guy but lets be realistic here.
That is why I’m making this post. The idea that the web is going to be where most people choose to view their TV is ridiculous. Put it up to even the slightest bit of scrutiny and you’d realize that. It’s just silly.
Addendum: For the record, I do think we will some day reach a digital consolidation where the TV and your PC become interconnected and hence interchangeable. But that’s all the more reason to push the point I make above. No one tries to get to their destination if they’ve fooled themselves into thinking they’re already there.