Viewership Needs Definition

And people wonder why 3DTV has yet to take off, what with the previously touted TV breakthrough, HD, still lagging. Consider that viewing of HD content in the US really isn’t close to matching the robust sales of HDTVs, according to Nielsen, noting how more than 80% of TV viewing is still of standard-def programming. Only 13% of total day viewing on cable and 19% of viewing on broadcast TV, in fact, satisfies the “true HD” viewing requirement of an HDTV and HD tuner that are both tuned to an HD channel. Moreover, approx 20% of viewing on HD sets is through non-HD feeds. Not surprisingly, more people watch cable sports nets in HD than any other net type, and young adults are the most likely to seek out HD programming. Interesting, though, is by how far Asian homes lead all other US homes in HD penetration. Approx two-thirds of Asian HHs are set up to watch HDTV, compared to approx half of the trailing group, African American HHs. See graph below.