TV woes: so many channels so little time

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.