BuzzSugar

Not Surprising: Facebook Dominates Social Networking Time

GeekSugar — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 03:47:34 PDT

We all know what a time suck Facebook can be, so I'm not surprised that the results of a recent Nielson study says what we already knew: Americans are hooked on social networks.

The study, which was conducted in June of this year, says that nearly 25 percent of our time online is spent checking various social networks, while Facebook accounts for 85 percent of that share. I'm sure Facebook's 500 million members aren't surprised either. Although Facebook has recently experienced a rough PR patch - for its service and its back-and-forth privacy policies - it remains the top online time waster in America. Want to know how else people spend their time online? Find out more, and how you can neatly organize all of your current social networks to cut down on your time online (if you so choose) after the break.

Do You Watch More or Less TV Than Average?

BuzzSugar — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 13:30:06 PST

TV watching in the US is now at an all-time high. According to a new Nielsen survey, the average US household has the TV on for eight hours and 18 minutes each day. That's more than a third of the day!

Granted, that doesn't mean people are actually watching closely - having the TV on in the background would count toward that total. But still! Eight hours! Not to say I've never done it, but I assume I watch more TV than most people. But I could be wrong, so tell me - how does your TV watching compare to the US average?

Source

How Many TV Channels Do You Get?

BuzzSugar — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:30:50 PDT

In case you couldn't tell from your swelling lineup of digital cable options, the number of TV channels the average American household receives just keeps going up. In the latest TV-watching study from Nielsen, a typical US home now gets 119 TV channels, a new high.

That's not to say that all of those channels get watched - in fact, the average household watches only 16 of them! That said, it seems like every time I turn on the TV, my Comcast service has added another channel or 20 to the lineup. So I'm wondering: How many channels do you have available for surfing?

Source

Good to Know: Entertainment by the Numbers

BuzzSugar — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 09:30:00 PST

Nielsen, the company that measures TV ratings, among other things, just released its annual top-ten lists ranking everything from the most-watched TV shows to the most-purchased supermarket goods (bread's a big one). I'm a sucker for entertainment-related factoids, so here are a few nuggets from this year's lists:

Where in the United States has the most-avid moviegoers? Salt Lake City! The Salt Lake area ranked first in the percentage of adults who had been to the movies four or more times in the three months before the survey was conducted. Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, El Paso, and the San Francisco Bay Area were next.
By those standards, only 8 percent of US adults qualify as avid moviegoers.
After the Super Bowl and Oscars, the top 10 TV programs of the year were all various installments of American Idol.
Lost and Heroes tied for the TV series that's most commonly timeshifted, or watched on a DVR. Each gained almost 18 percent more viewers than the number who watched the shows live.
Only four TV shows can regularly get more than 10 percent of US residents to tune in at any given time: Idol, Dancing With the Stars, Sunday Night Football, and CSI.
As of Dec. 2, the High School Musical soundtrack was on pace to become the top-selling album of the year, followed by Daughtry, and Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight.
Through Nov. 25, Khaled Hosseini had books ranked at number one and two on the list of best-selling fiction: A Thousand Splendid Suns was first, followed by The Kite Runner.

You can check out all the lists, and then let me know: Does anything surprise you about 2007 by the numbers?

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Nielsen's Cellphone Tracking Plot Thickens

GeekSugar — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 11:00:51 PDT

If you don't think people are actually using services like LG's Mobile TV, which delivers programs from some of the biggest television networks to your cell, think again. Nielsen Research Company - you know the television consumption monitors BuzzSugar is always talking about? - has announced it will acquire Telephia, a private company based in San Francisco.

According to the New York Times, Telephia is one of the most respected sources of data about cellphone use - as in tracking consumers’ phone calling, mobile Web surfing, video viewing and just about everything else. While Nielsen has been building mobile tracking products on its own, it will use Telephia's products to make its research more complete.
Personally, I've never watched a TV on a cell phone so the news that Nielsen is ready to start tracking the use is pretty shocking. Have you ever watched TV on your cell?

How Many TV Channels Do You Watch?

BuzzSugar — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 06:00:20 PDT

Behold the wonders of cable: According to a new survey from the Nielsen Research Company, the average U.S. household gets a whopping 104 TV channels. But that doesn't mean people are watching them. The survey found that the average home actually tunes into just about 15 of those channels each week.

I tried jotting down a list of channels I watch regularly and couldn't even get to 20! What about you? How many of your channels do you actually watch?

Source

Holiday Gift Guide: Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice

Susannah Chen — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:20:12 PST

This holiday, spice up your life - or that of a loved one - by adding an arsenal of killer salts, sugar, and spice accoutrements to the average home pantry. A few dreamy ideas: combine an elegantly boxed chocolat chaud ($20) with Nielsen-Massey vanilla paste ($8) from Madagascar for a killer vanilla-chocolate combo; for the savory food aficionado in your life, try pairing The Flavor Bible ($22), Karen Page's definitive reference on culinary creativity, with this La Boîte à Epice seasonless spice trio ($30). And don't forget: no spice drawer is complete without a mastrad spice grinder ($25). The ultimate showstopping piece for that truly special gourmand? This bisque porcelain Hering-Berlin mortar and pestle ($750).

iGadgets Top American Kids' Holiday Wish Lists

Kelly Schwarze — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 11:45:16 PST

Searching the web for the best gift ideas for the youngest recipients on your holiday shopping lists? Look no further than one brand - Apple. Turns out children's tastes don't vary much from the design-conscious adults in their lives when it comes to the perfect present, according to a survey by Nielsen that polled kids ages 6 to 12. Nearly half, 44 percent, to be precise, of all children polled said an iPad is what they hope will be hiding under wrapping paper this year.

Apple's other mobile devices, the iPod Touch and iPhone, round out the top three gadgets on American kids' wish lists, showing just how loyal the demographic is to their brand of choice. Teenagers 13 and up also list the iPad as their number one must-have, but show their more, relatively, traditional side with a computer and ereader as their number two and three gift wants.

Of course, the products on these top three lists come at a price that may not fit all budgets. An iPad 2 starts at $500; the iPod Touch is $200; and both the Nook and Kindle ereaders are priced just under $100. Do you think kids' desired gifts of 2011 are extravagant or just right for the time of year?

The Changing Face of Gadget Owners

Kelly Schwarze — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:31:02 PDT

Can gadgets ever be decidedly female or male? While we've seen companies design technology specifically for women, we haven't heard too much about a gadget being more popular with one gender over the other.

A new survey from Nielsen shows females are the predominant owners of ereaders while men own more tablets. Women make up 61 percent of ereader users and only 43 percent of the tablet users.

While the survey doesn't go into more details about why women seem to prefer ereaders over tablets, some have speculated women read more books and have more use with a single-purpose device.

In addition to voting for your gadget below, why do you think there is such a noticeable difference in the gadget choices of the sexes?

Coach Potato Fitness: Exercises For TV Time

Heather Dale — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 03:05:14 PDT

If only I spent as many hours exercising as I do watching TV, my body would be bikini-ready in no time! Looks like I'm not the only one who has an array of favorite shows - Nielsen's Q2 2010 State of the Media fact sheet shows that the average American watches 143 hours of television per month. If you do the math on that, that's about five hours of TV per day!

Now that Spring is here, I highly advise taking workouts from the indoors to the outdoors, but if you just can't bear the thought of missing an episode of American Idol, here are some quick and easy exercises you can do from the comfort of your living room.

Couch-Tricep Dips: Get in a sitting position in front of your couch and put your hands on the edge of the couch. Move your butt out a bit so your pelvis is hanging out in the air. Slowly use your arms to lower your body to the floor and slowly bring your butt back up. When you do this, your legs should be at a 90-degree angle (in the start position your body will look like a human chair). You should feel the burn in your arms. Do two sets of 15, giving yourself a rest in between each set.

Keep reading to learn some more TV-friendly exercises!