Everyone loves TV...Really? Not So Much When It Comes To News

I thought I found a light in the dark age of television news because guess what, "whichever screen, people are watching"!

Americans love spending time watching TV, and increasingly so. Just up until the end of 2008, more than 142 hours/month are spent in front of that television, the most popular device of video consumption. That is up from 137 hours/month in 2007. Through its quarterly "three-screen" reports, the Nielson Company revealed in 2008 that the "three-screen"-- TV, the Internet, and mobile -- have now become the most popular and significant forms of video consumption in Americans' lives.

While that still seems true today (just read a story about Tufts students' increased TV consumption a few days ago), broadcast journalists are still frowning.

During the same year ('08), viewership of television news declined, a continuing trend since '06. For local TV, evening newscasts were the most affected while morning newscasts were the least, according to Nielson Media Research. The only exception was cable news (CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC) last year in the light of the 2008 Presidential Election (they GATHERED viewers; "an increase in prime-time viewership of 5% from November to December").

The research, however, finds that by the end of year, all three of the networks have lost more than 40% of their prime-time audience it had compared to the climax of the presidential campaign.

So what do people watch when they turn TV on? The research suggests that news is not their number one choice.

My question to you: what are you likely to watch on TV?