TV soloists - statistics on number of television set owned in households from SRI Consulting's Media Futures Program

American Demographics, May, 1997 by Diane Crispell

Struggles over the remote control may be less common than you think. Sixty-one percent of U.S. households have two or more television sets, according to a nationally representative survey of 1,600 households from SRI Consulting's Media Futures Program. This multiplicity allows many of us to watch what we want, even if we do it on our own--which is what we choose to do a lot of the time. At least half of Americans usually watch TV by themselves. Some live alone, but most don't.

With this in mind, two of the major TV networks now use and report only person ratings, rather than household ratings (see "How to Read TV Ratings," March 1997, page 28, for explanations of these terms). NBC made the move in 1996, ABC more recently. These decisions reflect an understanding that television viewing is now more an individual activity than a household activity.

The proliferation of TV soloists affects more than TV programming and advertising. It means that interactive TV services may not cause much conflict between household members, says Paul DiSenso, senior consultant with SRI Consulting. This removes one of the obstacles facing WebTV and related concepts.

The Internet and TV may not be a match made in heaven (see "The Internet on TV" below), but DiSenso sees a way for the two to get together. "The people who are best positioned to take advantage of this are the video-game manufacturers, because they already have a way to get into the house," says DiSenso. "They can create a Web-capable game machine. And they know how to market in a dynamic and exciting way."

For more information about SRI Consulting's Media Futures Program, call Steve Baughman at (415) 859-2365.