As the definition of just what constitutes “television” diffuses across myriad devices, viewing formats and business models, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has reported something we already kind of know: there are fewer TV sets in American homes these days.
According to the agency, U.S. homes had an average of 2.3 TV sets in 2015, down from high of 2.6 in 2009.
In 2009, the number of homes with three or more televisions peaked at 44% and declined to 39% by 2015 (see graphic). Notably, the percentage of U.S. households without a television held steady at around 1.3% until doubling to 2.6% in 2015.
“Entertainment and information devices, in particular, vary by age: Younger households tend to have a lower concentration of televisions per person and a higher concentration of portable devices such as laptops and smart phones. Older households are more likely to have higher concentrations of desktop computers,” the EIA said
As Recode, which first reported on the EIA report, noted, the data jibes with recently released Nielsen figures that show the average number of hours U.S. households spent watching linear live television and DVR programming on TV sets declined from 60.07 in 2013 to 56.88 last year.