TV in America
What Neilson has to tell us about TV viewing in America …
1. The average home has 2.5 people and 2.8 television sets.
2. The average home receives 119 channels (we only watch 13%).
3. A TV is playing in the average home for 58 hours each week.
4. The average home watches about 32 hours each week.
So why am I writing about this topic? After being out with friends last night, I came home and turned on the TV. My picture had a very green tint to it. Turned the TV off and on again, but the tint was still there. After a couple more reboots, the problem went away. My TV is rear-projection LCD, so like a data projector – there is a bulb that can wear out after so many lamp hours. My set is over 3.5 years old now, so I thought I would see how many hours were on my lamp. This involved entering the hidden service menu and navigating around (thank you Internet instructions).
While I was researching how to check lamp hours, I found all sorts of people talking about how many bulbs they have been through. This surprised me since the bulb is rated for 10000 hours. That works out to 416 days (assuming you ran your TV 24 hours a day).
Now I’m going to butcher the Neilson numbers a bit, but in fairness – I only have one TV that is used for watching programming. My second TV is used exclusively as a computer monitor. Let’s assume my TV is on for the average 58 hours a week. The bulb should last about 172 weeks (or 3.3 years). So how many hours are on my bulb? The answer is 8553.
So my TV averages about 45 hours of “powered on” time a week. That doesn’t mean I’m always watching. Like the Neilson numbers prove, we leave our sets on a lot when we could be saving electricity. My biggest problem is falling asleep with the TV on. Maybe that tells us something about the quality of programming – or perhaps I’m just tired. Either way, we can all do better.
So I have ordered a spare bulb. They run about $175. Not bad if you only have to replace it once every four years or so. And the best part – my TV (not the bulb) is covered by extended warranty until late 2009. So if my green screen turns out to be something other than the bulb … I should be in good shape.
How many hours is your TV turned on each week?
berzins said,
June 15, 2008 @ 1:31 pm
About the same time I power my Xbox, which amount 8 to 10 hs a week.
Brazilian TV sucks.
Mom said,
June 15, 2008 @ 2:23 pm
How many hours per week? It depends on how many Cubs games are televised. Go, Cubs, Go!!
Happy Father’s Day, y’all.