In 2006, the average U.S. home received 104 television channels but only watched about 15 or 16 of them with any regularity, the Nielsen Co. reported Monday in a news release about viewing trends.
The number of channels each home could get was a record, up from 96 in 2005 and 61 in 2000.
Yet the average home watched only 15% of those channels for more than 10 minutes a week, Nielsen said. That compares with 16% of the channels that registered at least 10 minutes a week in 2005, and 22% in 2000.
What this indicates is that as the number of choices grows and channels are increasingly niche-oriented, viewers don't have to wander as far to find programming they like. They ferret out a dozen or so favorite channels and stick with them.
-- Lee Margulies
