• by Wayne Friedman , August 2, 2012

Traditional television viewing is still dominant. But IPTV-enabled TV homes -- those with Internet-connected TVs -- continue to climb and look to make an impact in future years.

Nielsen says IPTV-enabled TV viewing is now 5% of those homes' total TV viewing, as of February 2012. Four months before, it held a 2% share.

As of February, 10.4% of all TV homes had an IPTV compared to just 4.7% that same month a year prior, according to a recent Nielsen study.

Big-screen regular TV still commands virtually all viewing -- a 94% share with U.S. viewers watching 35 hours of TV across all screens.

“Internet Protocol TV has grown dramatically over the course of the last year," said Pat McDonough, senior vice president of insights analysis and policy for Nielsen. "People talk about ‘the TV is dead, or that it’s dying,’ but it doesn’t look like it yet."

Nielsen says non-traditional TV viewing options from Internet-connected sources will continue to grow -- and that unlike other TV-video related technologies, IPTV functions are being built into televisions.

Other TV-related devices are undergoing changing trends, the company notes. DVRs now appear in 44% of homes -- 80% higher since 2007. But DVD players and older VCRs are way down.

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