• by Wayne Friedman , February 10, 2022

While cord-cutting is growing in terms of the number of U.S. TV households, an analysis of all U.S. TV sets shows a broader picture.

Nielsen says “almost half of the TVs in U.S. homes today (44%) are no longer reliant on cable or satellite boxes for content” and finds there are an average of 2.3 TV sets in all U.S. TV homes -- around 286 million. Total TV households, as of November 2021, total 122.4 million.

Living-room TV still represents the main area for TV viewing, with 58% of usage among viewers two years of age and older in living rooms, followed by viewing in the primary bedroom (22%), secondary bedroom (12%), another room (6%), and the basement (2%).

Among younger 12-17 viewers, Nielsen says 47% of their viewing time is spent watching TV in the living room, with 39% in secondary bedrooms, 7% in primary bedrooms, 3% in the basement, and 4% in other rooms.

Overall Nielsen says 51% of TVs in secondary bedrooms access content via a broadband connection, which means streaming or virtual pay TV services.

In other estimates,among those 122.4 million Nielsen-estimated U.S. TV homes, around 83.5 million -- 69% -- have either a cable, satellite, or telco service, according to MoffettNathanson Research. When adding in virtual pay TV providers, this amounts to 94 million -- 77% of all TV homes.