Despite the increasingly complex media world which consumers now navigate, it is still a television-centric world. In calendar year 2007, according to Nielsen data, viewing levels were consistently high across the board. Household viewing, at 8 hours and 14 minutes per day, has increased 16 minutes over the past five years. Viewing by men has topped four and one half hours in recent years, and viewing by women is at five and one quarter hours. Teens and children are spending 3 hours and 21 minutes, and 3 hours and 25 minutes, respectively, with television each day.

Other recent studies have reported consistently strong television usage as well. In Hearst-Argyle's recent release of a study on local television advertising effectiveness, fielded by Frank N. Magid & Associates, 43% of respondents claimed to view between three and four hours of television daily. An additional 17% reported viewing five to six hours each day and 14% viewed seven hours or more.

When TVB fielded the Media Comparisons Study in January 2008, we knew that television's “time spent” figures would be impacted by the writers' strike. They were. Television's unsurpassed daily reach, however, means that a significant percentage of Total Daily Media Hours are devoted to television – and that's true for all key demographics, as illustrated on the following pages.

Consider Adults 25-54, for example. In the average day television reaches 90% of this demographic; nationally, that equates to over 111 million Adults 25-54. They view an average of nearly 223 minutes each day. Combined, those adults 25-54 spend over 412 million hours each day with television, significantly more than newspapers, radio, magazines and internet. In fact, 53.05% of Total Daily Media Hours for Adults 25-54 are spent with television.

These data can easily be replicated in local markets by using the national time spent and percent reached figures, and incorporating local market demographic estimates.