• by Wayne Friedman , September 26, 2016

Live TV viewing declines have slowed down, with smartphone usage still showing rapid growth.

In the second quarter of this year, Nielsen says average live viewing per day of viewers 18 years and up was four hours and nine minutes -- a two-minute decline versus the same time period a year ago.

There was an eight-minute decline from 2014 to 2015.

By contrast, in the second quarter, smartphone time with apps or on Web sites soared -- climbing to one hour and 43 minutes from 1:09 -- a 34-minute gain. There was a nine-minute improvement in the second quarter of 2015 from the second quarter of 2014.

PC internet activity area grew -- 14 minutes to 57 minutes per day -- the reverse of 2015 versus 2014, when PC Internet use dropped 5 minutes -- to 43 minutes from 48 minutes.

Like TV usage, PC usage has dropped when it comes to individual channels viewed/visited. The average number of TV channels viewed by month in May 2016 was 19.8 down from 19.9. The average number of Web sites visited on personal computers was 54.9 sites down from 61.1.

But smartphone sites visited -- as well the the average number of apps used -- has climbed. Average sites visited was up to 43.8 from 38.4 with apps growing to 27.6 from 27.3.