Americans watched more television than ever in the fourth quarter, The Nielsen Co. reported Monday, even though the Internet is providing another way to watch.
The average American older than 2 years watched television for 151 hours per month, Nielsen said.
That was up from 146 hours in the same period the previous year.
More watching of recorded TV explained some of the increase: that was up to 7 hours from 5 hours the year before. That included digital video recorders like the TiVo and “Start Over” features offered by some cable companies.
Among those who watch video on the Internet and on cell phones, the time spent viewing increased from the third quarter, but at much lower levels. The average user of Internet video spent two hours and 53 minutes on that per month, Nielsen said
In a separate report out Monday, Leichtman Research Group said only 1 percent of adults view recent TV shows online daily, and they’re no more likely to consider disconnecting their TV subscriptions.
Leichtman’s findings were based on a survey of 1,250 households last year.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More