33% of U.S. Homes Own HDTVs [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

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Woochifer
05-22-2009, 01:59 PM
This is actually lower than some of the other estimates I've seen that place the HDTV household penetration closer to 40%. But, nonetheless this is straight out of Nielson's People Meter database (which is used for generating TV ratings). Report linked below

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/hdtv_052109.pdf

Basically, the conclusion is that HDTV adoption continued to rise rapidly despite worsening economic conditions. Between February 2008 and February 2009, the HDTV penetration grew from 19.3% to 33.3%, which equates to a 72.5% growth rate in one year. Even if sales continue to level off, the HDTV penetration will continue to increase since the vast majority of TVs sold are now HD-capable.

The most surprising finding to me was how many households that own HDTVs are also receiving HD programming. As recently as two years ago, I recall that less than half of HDTV owners were watching HD programming. Now, you have 28.8% of all households owning HDTVs AND receiving HD programming. This means that 86.5% of HDTV owners now receive HD programming. Clearly, heavy promotion by cable and satellite companies has had some effect, and TV antenna sales have apparently also gone way up in advance of the DTV transition.

Some other findings:

- HDTVs had a higher usage of DVRs -- 44.6% versus 17.1% for SD TVs
- HDTVs had a higher usage of video game consoles -- 35.2% versus 23.2% for SD TVs
- 62% of HDTVs are located in common areas

Mr Peabody
05-22-2009, 04:52 PM
At first when I saw the statistic I thought it was low but at second glance it's probably pretty close, if not high. But I guess it depends on the area one lives in.

I stayed at a Hampton Inn last weekend and was surprised to see a nice LCD in the room with remote and a game controller attached. I wish I had thought to ask if all the rooms were like that.

It's funny in a way, my mom pays for HD programming from cable, you know how they have the HD and SD versions both available, she'll tell me she's watching a movie and I'll ask what channel, when she tells me it's usually the SD version. I'll ask her why don't you watch it in HD, she'll say what channel was that, she'll switch it, oh, that does look better, you told me about that before didn't you. I guess it's an age thing or old habits die hard. It's not that she likes the SD better she just is used to pushing certain numbers for a channel. Dishnet has a nice remedy for that, the receivers automatically go to the HD channel even when you push the old number. Like if I push 200 for CNN, it automatically goes to 94nn whatever it is. I'm sorry I think I got to rambling and went a bit off topic.