APRIL 13, 2007

So many channels, so little on

Nielsen Media Research recently released a report that found the average household now gets 104.2 different TV channels.  Eleven years ago this number was just at 41.1 channels.  However, even with this huge jump, the average viewer only actually watches 15.7 of these channels, up from 10.1 in 1995.  So, even though we now have over 60 new channels to watch, we’re only taking advantage of 5 of them. 

Davis Freeberg finds this very interesting:

What’s interesting about this stat though, is that even though consumers are watching more channels, because the number of channels they have access to has expanded so rapidly, they are actually watching a smaller percentage of channels overall. In 1995, the 10.1 channels that consumers were watching represented about 25% of all channels that were available to them, but today, because we now have over a 100 channels to watch, the 15.7 average channels, really only represents about a 15% share. As the internet and digital delivery continue to exponentially increase the number of programs that you have to choose from, fragmentation will present an even greater challenge for the television industry then it does today.

Number of Channels Available in the Average U.S. Home

YEAR	# of Channels	# of Channels Viewed	% of Available Channels Viewed
2006	104.2	15.7	15.1%
2005	96.4	15.4	16.0%
2004	92.6	15.0	16.2%
2000	61.4	13.6	22.1%
1995	41.1	10.1	24.6%
1990	33.2	n/a	n/a
1985	18.8	n/a	n/a

Most of the new channels added have very specific content and are targeted to a very niche market.  Therefore, the average viewer wouldn’t be interested in most of what the new channels have to offer.  However, you’d think there must be a demand if the channels remain on tv.  But in today’s society with more demands on our time and more media outlets like the Internet and Netflix, it really isn’t a huge surprise that we aren’t watching more channels on a regular basis.  How many channels do you watch?