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As much as I try to remind you that The Nielsen Company is a global information and measurement company that measures so many things beyond television (like how you spend your time online and on your mobile devices and what you buy at the grocery store) the fact of the matter is we’re still very much in the business of rating television viewing. So I’m eager to share with you a hot new study on TV viewing.
Nielsen’s most recent State of the Media Report is a snapshot of TV viewing and usage trends pulled from an analysis of live stream data from people aged 18-49 during November of 2010. Some naysayers will point out, “hmph, you didn’t contact me, bet ya’ll don’t even count Black people.” To which I say, “WRONG!” Although we can’t measure every household in America we take a representative sample of the population (when you feel sick, a sample of your blood is adequate to indicate what’s going on, the doctor doesn’t have to drain your whole body right?). So while we may not have contacted you directly that doesn’t mean we didn’t include your neighbor, Mrs. Williams from the church’s usher board, your personal trainer or even your college roommate in Atlanta. Clients count on us to provide them with an accurate ethnic representation that looks like America. So let’s not get it twisted: Nielsen’s television measurement sample is representative of the U.S.’s diverse population. Another thing you should know: we don’t care how much or how little TV you watch or even if Cousin Pookie installed your cable box. As long as you have at least one television set in your home your household has an equal chance of being randomly selected. Seriously. And only after you have voluntarily accepted our invitation is your household included in the sample—so there’s no big brother spying going on. But I do need to clarify: only households that have agreed to be a part of our sample directly impact the ratings. Ok, wanted to make a few of those points. Now back to the State of The Media Report.
First thing to know: African-Americans as a group still watch more TV than other demographic group. We turn on our TVs an average of 7 hours 12 minutes each day, compared to the U.S. average of 5 hours 11 minutes. As a group, we also use DVD players and video game consoles more, and more than one-third (38 percent) of our homes had a DVR. White households have more DVRs than average (40 percent) and have the highest usage.
And, what have we been watching? It’s no secret that we Americans love our football, across the board. (I am apparently in the minority—paying attention only when a player is involved in some juicy scandal. Hey, at least I’m honest.) NFL football is an event that unifies the nation, cutting across all ethnic groups. Network broadcasts of regular season games took the top ten spots for African-Americans and half of the top ten for Whites and Asians. For cable, ESPN’s NFL Regular Season grabbed the top spot among African-Americans, Whites and Asians; and ranked second place with Hispanics.
Nielsen has divided the country into 210 geographic markets, we call designated market areas. A DMA does not just include the large metropolitan counties, but surrounding collar counties too. (Chicago’s DMA for example includes 16 counties). Why? Because people in the suburbs and rural America watch TV too ya’ll! So while the top three TV DMA’s for the total U.S. are New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, if we rank the top DMA’s based on highest African-American population, things would shake out a little differently:
Atlanta (27.6 percent)
Raleigh-Durham (26.8 percent)
Washington, DC (23.9 percent)
Detroit (20.1 percent)
Philadelphia (18.3 percent)
Houston (17.4 percent)
Chicago (16.8 percent)
New York (16.7 percent)
Dallas-Ft. Worth (14.2 percent)
Los Angeles (8.4 percent)
Regardless as to whether you live in the city or a rural area your views matter, so if you are ever asked to be a Nielsen home, please say yes! (And check with Mrs. Williams from the usher board, you might be surprised to discover how many people like her have actually been Nielsen homes at one time or another).
(Cheryl Pearson-McNeil is senior vice president of Public Affairs and Government Relations for The Nielsen Company. For more information and studies go to www.nielsenwire.com.)