Nielsen: Viewing by Race/Ethnicity

A new report by Nielsen compares media consumption habits across different race and ethnic groups.  Some quick highlights:

• African-Americans watch considerably more TV than other demographic groups
• Asian-Americans watch noticeably less TV, but use online video the most
• Hispanics lead in smartphone penetration (53%), followed by Asian-Americans (48%)
• While only 39% of African-Americans have smartphones, they lead in terms of time spent watching videos on their smartphones (averaging 6.5 hours a month)
• Whites tended to fall in the middle of the various measures, although that demographic averaged the lowest smartphone penetration and using smartphones for watching video.

In aggregate, Nielsen reported that traditional TV viewing remains strong, with total time viewing up slightly from last year.  On the other hand, audiences are taking more control over their use of traditional TV, with DVRs now in 40% of homes, and the amount of time-shifted viewing increasing 12%.  Finally, Nielsen reported that 91% of TV homes paid for some type of television service, possibly bad news for local broadcasters.

For more demographic breakdowns of online video, see yesterday's post on the new Pew study.

Source: "Nielsen: African-Americans Watch Most TV, Asians Favor Net Video", MediaDailyNews