Traditional TV Viewing, 2011-2016 [CHART]

Chart: Traditional TV Viewing by Age - 2011-2016

The latest quarterly TV viewing figures from Nielsen were recently released, and we now have 6 years’ worth of data on Americans’ traditional TV viewing habits to examine. If you’ve been keeping track of these quarterly updates, you’re well aware that youth as a whole are watching less traditional TV.

Between 2011 and 2016, Q4 traditional TV viewing by 18-24-year-olds dropped by almost 10 hours a week, or by roughly 1 hour and 25 minutes per day. In percentage terms, Q4 traditional TV viewing by 18-24-year-olds was down by 7.1% year-over-year and has now fallen by 39% since 2011. In other words, in the space of 5 years, almost 40% of this age group’s traditional TV viewing time has migrated to other activities or streaming (more on that to come).

The above figures are averaged among the entire population, meaning that they include those Americans who don’t watch traditional TV. That number is more prevalent among youth: Nielsen’s recent “Comparable Metrics” report indicates, for example, that in Q3 2016, TV’s weekly reach was just 76% among 18-34-year-olds, well below the 87% average for all adults. Read the rest at MarketingCharts.com.