WebProNews

Nielsen has shared results of its "State of the Media" research. Not that this fact is surprising, but television is still the most preferred gateway for media consumption.

In the last quarter of '08, the average household watched over 151 hours of TV in a month. Internet users logged on for 27 viewing hours a month, and mobile subscribers registered four hours of video and three hours of Internet a month. Other highlights of the research as presented by Nielsen include:

- Despite 3 in 10 households owning a DVR, live TV continues to be the favorite way to watch TV.

- 54 percent of U.S. households have one or two TVs.

- Hispanic households are more than twice as likely as other groups to download movies.

- Fully 91 percent of households have Internet access, with 57 percent having high-speed connections.

- Viewers can be clustered into eight discrete segments based on gender, age, media consumption levels, ethnicity and social outlook.

Nielsen's President of Global Media Client Services Dave Thomas says, "Media has become a digital funhouse: phones deliver TV programming. Computers enable phone calls. Televisions serve as gaming arcades. Consumers access video wherever and whenever they can.  But the fact remains that TV still dominates."

Nielsen's findings echo a study from McPheters & Company finding that TV ads and even magazine ads are proving more effective than online advertising. This information is a wake-up call to get online advertisers to take advantage of tactics that inspire grater engagement from consumers.