Different Ethnic Groups Watch TV Differently

Traditional TV tuned in by women, African Americans

By Jon Lafayette -- Broadcasting & Cable, 8/1/2011 2:30:44 PM

Women watch more TV then men. African-Americans watch more than other ethnic groups. Older viewers tend to watch more than younger viewers. And white viewers watch the most time-shifted TV.

These are some of the findings from Nielsen's first quarter Cross-Platform Report, released Monday.

According to Nielsen, women watch 16 hours more of traditional TV per month than men do. Men, however, spend more time watching video online.

Older viewers -- age 65 and up -- watch more than twice as much traditional TV as teens and 37% more than adults 35 to 49, Nielsen said. Adults 50 to 64 represent 25% of the traditional TV audience. Adults 35 to 49 comprise the largest Internet video audience at 27% and adults 25 to-34 watch 30% of all mobile video.

African Americans watch 213 hours of traditional TV per month, 57 hours per month more than white viewers and more than twice as much as Asian Americans.  

African Americans also watch the most mobile video, which Asians spend the most time watching video on the Internet, according to Nielsen.

Hispanics watch less traditional TV than the overall population, but more Internet video on average.

White viewers watch 50% more time-shifted TV than the next most dedicated ethnic group, Asian-American. White viewers watch less video on the Internet and mobile phone than other ethnic groups, Nielsen said.