As TV Dwindles, It Still Leads

The New York Times - At the upfront media sales, network television peddles its annual shows as its audience dwindles. But here’s the thing: network television still has a bigger audience than its media competitors.Network television advertising retains traction with both buyers and consumers because, in spite of the proliferation of screens, people are still watching more television than ever. A study done in March by Ball State University found that consumers in most age groups watch on average a little more than five hours of television a day.

And lest you think that everyone is DVR-ing and TiVo-ing their way across all that viewing untouched by ads, the study, done on behalf of the Council for Research Excellence, a forum created and financed by the Nielsen Company, found that television viewers were exposed to 72 minutes of ads and promos each day. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/25/business/media/25carr.html