Nielsen 'Three Screens' Report: TV, Online and Mobile Video Viewing Profiled

When the last "Three Screens" report came out suggesting that US users were watching 3+ hours of mobile video a month I was very skeptical. After talking to Nielsen I discovered that included things like video loaded into iPod Touch devices and iPhones I relaxed somewhat.

Here are the latest numbers from the research firm comparing video/TV viewing on conventional TV, online and on mobile:

Nielsen 3 Screens Q3

Source: Nielsen (11/08)

These data argue that traditional TV hasn't suffered and that video viewing across all "screens" is up, although it's mostly flat from Q2. The headline from most media outlets that covered the release was something along the lines of "TV is bigger than ever." 

Back to mobile: the 3:37 per month is not mobile TV; it's video on mobile devices that's preloaded, downloaded or "sideloaded." Mobile TV has yet to make a compelling argument (with the exception of sports) to the mobile subscriber base -- to justify its premium.