Noted television ratings and market research group Nielsen announced today a multi-year partnership to create the "Nielsen Twitter TV Rating" for the US market. The partnership with Twitter will result in a new syndicated-standard metric that measures Twitter conversations about TV, and it will be available at the start of the fall 2013 television season.
Teenaged Americans will more readily turn to YouTube to listen to music than they will any other source. This according to a new study out from Nielsen Music 360, which found that, though radio remains the most popular medium for discovering new music, Google's video streaming site is more popular than radio, iTunes, or CDs when it comes to listening. The study also revealed that nearly half of teens have radio apps on their smartphones and that digital music has surpassed physical CDs in terms of perception of value.
Smartphones are now pretty clearly driving growth in the mobile phone market, according to new figures out from research group Nielsen. A post on the firm's blog claims that smartphones accounted for two out of three mobile purchases in the United States. Nielsen also found that the percentage of mobile subscribers owning smartphones has ticked up from previous estimates.
The majority of smartphone and tablet owners in the US use their mobile device several times a week while watching television, according to survey data published by Nielsen. The trend was shown to be strongest in the US, where 88 percent of tablet owners and 86 percent of smartphone owners reported simultaneous usage at least once in a 30-day period.
Smartphones are now almost exactly half of all cellphones in the US, Nielsen uncovered Thursday. About 49.7 percent of Americans who owned a cellphone as of February opted for a smartphone. The trend was only due to continue, as over two thirds of buyers in the past three months had picked up smartphones.
New Nielsen data has shown that cross-platform gaming is seeing heavy inroads, including from Apple. About 24 percent of US homes used at least two gaming platforms, but diversity was especially high among those who had a traditional handheld. In homes where a Nintendo DS or Sony PSP was was used by a child under 12, 66 percent also had some kind of iOS device.
Two thirds of those in the 'sweet spot' of ages 25 to 34 have a smartphone, Nielsen said Monday. As of January, 66 percent of everyone studied in the age bracket had one of the more advanced cellphones. The figure had also passed the tipping point for everyone else aged 44 or younger.
Nielsen in a fresh study showed that 70 percent of US families with tablets let their kids use at least one of the devices. The use, which applied to every child under 12 this fall, was a nine-point hike from just this past summer. Among those who had at least one tablet, games were by far the most common activity, with 77 percent of their children using games they'd downloaded through an online store.
New Nielsen data about TV viewing habits has shown that cord-cutters, or those who drop paid TV in favor of Internet viewing, are often decreasing their viewing habits as a whole. Someone who has broadband but only watches traditional TV over the air watches less than half that of a regular cable subscriber, at nearly 123 minutes a day on average instead of 257, but still uses it much more than Internet streaming. These viewers typically saw no more than 11.2 minutes a day of streaming video, which was over double the five minutes of a cable subscriber but far from a direct substitute.
The sustained effect of the iPhone 4S is triggering a decline in Android's US market share, Nielsen showed Wednesday. Although Android had an average 51.7 percent share for the fall among recent buyers, a month-by-month breakdown by the researchers showed that its share among recent buyers dropped from 61.6 percent in October to 48.7 percent in November as iPhone sales traffic picked up. By December, Android and iOS were near even, at 46.9 and 44.5 percent each.
US album sales have grown for the first time in seven years, Nielsen Soundscan reported Wednesday. A three percent increase to 458 million albums in 2011 was helped by digital sales from iTunes and other sources jumping by 20 percent, to 103 million, overcoming a six percent drop in CD sales to 225 million. Single songs themselves grew faster, up nine percent to 1.27 billion songs.
Nielsen in a look back at late summer not only broke down market share for the period but revealed that Android had a consistent appeal across ages. Android was up to 44.2 percent of US smartphones between August and October but also had a more even balance than the primarily younger audiences of before. About 47 percent of those both in the 18-24 and 25-34 groups with smartphones had Android, while even the 65-plus group still saw 39 percent pick Google.
Android app use is dominated by just a handful of regular apps, Nielsen found on Monday. Regardless of age group, the six most-used apps always include Google's separately upgradeable apps as well as Facebook. Among other apps, the higher-ranked titles included Angry Birds as well as Advanced Task Killer Free, an app meant to cover the inability to truly quit apps not really addressed until Android 4.0.
The iPhone 4S is overwhelming talk of other smartphones as holiday picks, Nielsen tracked on Friday. The new iPhone has consistently been the most talked-about device in news and social, at about 40 percent between July and early December. When joined with other iPhone models, Apple had 66 percent of all the buzz, or three times as much as Google's 23 percent for Android.
Nielsen, the consumer measurement and information research specialist has just released its annual Television Audience report. In it, Nielsen has found that TV ownership in the US has declined for the first time since 1992 from 115.9 million households to 114.7 million. At the same time, the average number of TVs in each household has increased from 2.97 to 3.01.
Android's share of the US smartphone market started leveling off in the summer, Nielsen said Tuesday. With Android at 42.8 percent, its overall summer share was the same as what it managed in August. Apple was also unaffected and held the iPhone firm at 28.3 percent.
Apple virtually controls what kids want for Christmas this holiday, Nielsen found on Thursday. Among US children aged six to 12, 44 percent wanted an iPad. The company also swept the top three, with the iPod touch at 30 percent and the usually unobtainable iPhone at 27 percent.
New Nielsen data has shown that smartphone adoption among younger generations has grown in the past year to where the "vast majority" are now using smartphones. About 62 percent of those aged 25 to 34 in the US now have a smartphone, researchers found this summer; the groups just above and below, the 18-24 and 35-44 groups, have also crossed the 50 percent mark.
Nielsen on Friday broke with traditionalism and said it would start factoring e-books into its charts. Its BookScan metric would now include the Amazon Kindle Store, Apple's iBookstore, Barnes & Noble's Nook store, the Google eBookstore, and other stores would now be counted alongside paper titles. It will break out charts into fiction and non-fiction for both combined digital and paper sales as well as digital-only sales.
Many if not most smartphone and tablet owners are often using the device at the same time as they watch TV, Nielsen found Thursday. About 40 percent of phone owners and 42 percent of tablet owners used theirs every day in front of the TV. About a quarter more in each case were using it multiple times a week, making use in front of the TV near ubiquitous.
Android is still growing in the US, but is taking all its share from non-iPhone rivals, Nielsen found on Monday. Google was up from 40 percent in July to 43 percent in August, but Apple was still at the 28 percent it has held since June. Most of that decline came from Microsoft, which took the "other" category down from 13 percent to 11 percent.
Consumer preference research house Nielsen has published findings from audience measurement data collected from Android smartphone users. The company found that Android Market was the top ranked app, followed by Google Maps, GMail, Facebook and Google Search. Nielsen also found that there were some gender differences with Google Maps having the second greatest reach for men after Android Market, while women preferred Facebook.
New Nielsen data Thursday reinforced views that Android had still gained US share in July, but not at Apple's expense. Google was up one point to 40 percent, but Apple was steady with the iPhone holding its 28 percent share. RIM appeared to be the direct victim as the BlackBerry lost a point to settle at 19 percent.
A new Nielsen study Thursday revealed that tablet and e-reader ownership had changed rapidly in just the last year. Where about 62 percent of owners of iPads and other tablets were under 34 in summer 2010, only 46 percent of them were that age by the start of this summer. Similarly, where just 10 percent were over 55 a year ago, that number had surged to 19 percent by mid-2011.
Despite having a large app store, much of Android's usage time is spent with just 10 apps, Nielsen discovered Thursday. About 43 percent of Android app use is focused on the top 10. The top 50 apps account for 61 percent of time, leaving nearly all of the 250,000-plus Android Market apps to contend for the remaining 39 percent.
Most people using video apps are concerned more about how much it costs than what it contains, Nielsen said on Monday. A disproportionately large 63 percent of those using apps on iPhones, iPads, Android and elsewhere considered the price "very important" and wanted it either free or with a low subscription. Only 42 to 47 percent were sincerely concerned about what and how much video there was.
Netflix and Hulu occupy almost entirely separate camps of digital streaming, Nielsen learned in a study Wednesday. Both are now available on many platforms, but Netflix is the dominant form by a wide margin on non-PC devices, including iPads, game consoles, and Internet-aware media hubs, ranging from a three-to-one ratio on Apple's tablet to seven or eight times higher. Hulu only wins out on computers but often does so by a wide margin, with 89 percent of its viewers watching on a computer versus just 42 percent of Netflix owners wanting to do the same.
Nielsen SoundScan on Wednesday reported the first increase in American album sales since 2004. Total album sales in the US for the first half of 2011 were up one percent year-to-year to hit 155.5 million. Pure digital sales were growing faster at 660 million individual tracks, up 10 percent, and 221.5 million album equivalents, a boost of 3.6 percent.
A fresh Nielsen study has back views that gaming was not only leading in smartphone apps but was increasingly an iOS-specific trend. About 64 percent of mobile app downloaders had picked up games, and 93 percent of those willing to pay for an app would do so for a game. Weather and social networking were the next most popular among all apps, but few explicitly wanted to pay for them.
New Nielsen studies on Friday showed that mobile data use was growing rapidly even as the cost of it was staying the same or going down. Mobile data use was up 89 percent on average in early 2011 from 230MB a month a year earlier to 435MB today. Since most data plans were either staying the same or dropping down in price due to caps, the price per megabyte had actually been cut almost in half, down 46 percent to eight cents.
Android saw its first real decline in US share last month, Nielsen discovered in its latest smartphone use breakdown. Google's OS dropped in share for the first time in recent memory, down one point from March to 36 percent. The iPhone and BlackBerry were also largely near their earlier levels at 26 percent for Apple's devices (down one point) and 23 percent (up one).
Tablet owners are most often doing something else while they use their devices, Nielsen found in an uncommon look at how users depend on the iPad, tablets and other devices like e-readers. A full 70 percent of US tablet owners say they use their devices while watching TV, and the viewing time represents about 30 percent of the time spent. The next favorite place was in bed, at 57 percent of people and 21 percent of their time.
Total music sales in the US are finally increasing once again, Nielsen found in data collected this week. From the start of the year through May 8, total sales were up 1.6 percent as digital finally began compensating for dropping CD sales. iTunes, Amazon MP3, and other services helped boost online album and track sales up by 16.8 percent and 9.6 percent each.
The launch of a wave of Android-based tablets has so far done little to cut into the iPad's share, Nielsen found in a new study. Apple had a combined 82 percent share of US tablets at the start of the spring split almost evenly between 3G and Wi-Fi models. The newcomer Motorola Xoom had two percent, but even established Android tablets like the Dell Streak and Samsung Galaxy Tab had just three and four percent respectively, the study said.
The number of TV owners in the US has dropped for the first time in two decades, Nielsen discovered in a study posted Tuesday. Although slight, ownership dropped from 98.9 percent in the last study to 96.7 percent in early 2011. Results had first shown signs of change in 2008 but hadn't become as clear until this year, said the researchers.
Walker Digital has filed its second round of technology industry lawsuits in less than a month, court documents show. The new campaign revolves around US Patent 6,263,505, System and Method for Supplying Supplemental Information for Video Programs. The patent explains a way of synchronizing separate audio or video with a live or recorded program.
Android has reached a new high in US market share but almost entirely at the BlackBerry's expense, Nielsen said on Tuesday. Google was now up to 37 percent share from 29 percent just in the fall. All of that came from RIM supporters defecting to the platform, though, as BlackBerry use fell five points to 22 percent while the iPhone remained steady at 27 percent.
Samsung hoped to kickstart adoption of its 2011 3D TVs Wednesday by very aggressively cutting prices and increasing the number of times it gives them for free in bundles. Its SSG-3100GB active shutter glasses are dropping from $130 to $50, making it it inexpensive enough to buy two pairs for less than it cost to buy one. The designer-made, lightweight SSG-3700GR glasses are also getting an undefined price cut.
Most people in North America not only aren't buying 3D TVs but are consciously avoiding them, Nielsen found in a new study. About 59 percent of those in the US and Canada said they would "definitely not" buy a 3D TV within the next year. Only six percent said they would likely buy a set, while exactly a third said they either weren't sure or were unlikely; just two percent has a set.
Despite claims to the contrary, Apple may still have the lead not just in US smartphone market share but also in demand, Nielsen said today. As of October, the iPhone had 27.9 percent of share of those asked, which was not just ahead of Android's 22.7 percent but just ahead of RIM's 27.4 percent. Among those looking at smartphone upgrades, 30 percent were looking to buy an iPhone while Android was at 28 percent; just 13 percent were planning to get a BlackBerry, the study showed.
Children 12 and under want an iPad even more than the game consoles that have almost always topped their lists for several years, Nielsen said today. About 31 percent of those aged six to 12 wanted an iPad, trumping both computers and the iPod touch at 29 percent each. Nintendo's DS line was stopped at 25 percent, while the PSP was well behind at just 14 percent.
Teens with cellphones are using them for mobile data much more than in the past, Nielsen determined in a new study. Although messaging is still the favorite, about 49 percent of those aged 13 to 17 were using their phones for full Internet access in the spring, not just MMS or SMS. The number was up from 40 percent a year earlier and was mirrored by apps and e-mail, which shot up nearly as much to hit 38 percent.
Android has managed to overtake the iPhone as the most popular smartphone platform for recent buyers, Nielsen found today. Of Americans who had bought a smartphone within the past six months as of August, 32 percent had bought an Android phone. Apple held virtually steady at 25 percent and was only just slightly eclipsed by the BlackBerry's 26 percent.
Online music sales have leveled off in the course of the past year, Nielsen said today. Sales and subscriptions at iTunes, Amazon MP3 and other American stores in the first half of 2010 were roughly similar to a similar part of 2009 compared to a 13 percent increase the year before and a 28 percent jump in 2008. The researchers didn't have a direct explanation but suspected that disenchantment with the music on sale, as well as economic difficulties and a confusion of sources, contributed to the effect.
ABC today put out the first mobile app known to sync directly with a live TV show. My Generation for the iPad (free, App Store) changes in real time with the TV show of the name through audio watermarking technology from Nielsen. By listening to cues from the show with the iPad's built-in mic, the app can provide background knowledge, polls and trivia games as the show progresses, without spoiling the rest of the episode.
The Coalition for Innovative Media today said it would be one of the first to use smartphones to conduct market research [sub. required]. About 1,000 people are being promised a free iPhone in return for reporting their usage habits in half-hour blocks. A custom iPhone app will let them report their TV viewing, ad reactions and device use from a handheld rather than the traditional paper forms or dedicated media devices.
Reading on an iPad is better than a Kindle, a study by Nielsen Norman has found. Both were slower than with real paper, but the iPad was considerably quicker for reading at 6.2 percent slower where Amazon's ostensibly better Kindle was actually slower, at 10.2 percent off of the time for paper. Apple's tablet also edged out the Kindle in usability, as iBooks not only had more clearly defined fonts but a much easier to understand page marker.
The iPhone 3G's price drop to $99 is a large enough move that it could overhaul the entire cellphone industry, according to research by Nielsen. Analyst Roger Entner believes the cut "completely changes" the worth of every phone already on offer and won't just hurt smartphones, where the comparisons are more evident, but any limited "feature" phone that nears the price point. Any cellphone over $49 is "kneecapped" and will look like either it costs too much to make or that the carrier is asking too high a price, Entner says.
By Jeff Valvano
Ahead of Apple's earnings announcement, Nielsen Online on Monday sent out a compiled list of statistical data on the company, showing that overall brand awareness and iPhone users are up this quarter. Nielsen reveals that over the second quarter, web traffic to Apple.com grew 12-percent, from 44.3 million unique monthly impressions to 49.7 million, while total time spent on the website grew from 8.7 billion minutes to 10.1 billion over the course of the last year.
