American households get an average of 118.6 channels of television but watched only 16 according to Nielsen’s annual “Television Audience” report. In summarizing the report MediaPost editor Joe Mandese writes:
“The finding suggests that while the supply of media options is expanding, consumer attention may have reached its limits . . . because Nielsen’s definition of the supply of channels “receivable” and “tuned” have served as a benchmark for understanding how fragmentation impacts consumer behavior as the number of media options expands.
What happens when viewers reach the saturation point? I guess we’re poised to find out.