Watching TV on your mobile phone is a growing trend in the US, so says the Nielsen Three Screen Report which also suggests that the increase is directly linked to high sales of smartphones in 2009.

The report also finds that watching mobile tv is not affecting traditional tv watching, just that viewers are making use of new online and mobile ways to watch shows when they would normally not be watching a tv set anyway. Americans are in fact learning to multitask as, during December 2009, 59% of Americans said they used the internet at the same time as watching television.

“The initial fear was that Internet and mobile video and entertainment would slowly cannibalize traditional TV viewing, but the steady trend of increased TV viewership alongside expanded simultaneous usage argues something quite different,” says Nielsen’s Matt O’Grady.

Advertisers will be happy with Nielsen’s figures as Internet tv figures grew by 12.1%. The analysts found the biggest growth was in mobile Internet TV viewing, with figures jumping 57% in the past year.

For content distributors like Youtube and Hulu these figures leave a bitter taste as they are still unable to crack the mobile market. Andjudging by Nielsen’s findings the costs are rising as the number of viewers increase rapidly. Mobile video consumption growth might be tempered by the fact that most mobile operators in the US impose limited data quotas. As more handsets and 3G equipped netbooks are able to display higher resolution videos, consumers will have to watch their usage closely in order to avoid exorbitant excess bandwidth charges.

Interestingly, the most active age group for viewing video on the Internet is 35 to 64 year olds, accounting for more than 50 per cent. Advertisers generally favour 25 to 34 year olds as they tend have the right blend of disposable income and greater attention to social trends. Luckily for them, it is the 24 to 49 year olds that cover almost 60% of all mobile tv and video users.

For people that naughtily watch videos whilst supposed to be working, Nielsen’s findings show that you are not alone. The firm reports that 44% of all Internet video is viewed at the workplace with prime time being between noon and 6pm.

This just confirms that as the tv and video viewing platforms go more online, the platforms available to watch them have to grow as well. From iPad to internet connected tv to mobile phone, your tv will truly be available everywhere.

Incoming TV searches:

Online Watching mobile

Related posts:

1. Mobile Phone iPlayer Viewing Habits Revealed
2. Samsung To Launch Free TV On Moment Mobile Phone
3. Free Mobile cell phone TV by 2010
4. Comcast Launch Mobile Phone TV
5. Samsung Eternity phone comes with mobile TV