TELEVISION USAGE ANALYSIS: 

ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROGRAM FOR CONSUMER 

PRODUCTS: 

Television Sets

Revised March 2013

U.S. Department of Energy

Assistant Secretary

Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Building Technologies Program 

Appliances and Commercial Equipment Standards 

Washington, DC 20585 
This Document was prepared for the Department of Energy 

by staff members of

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
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TELEVISION USAGE ANALYSIS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.1 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................2

1.1.1 Modes of Use Considered ....................................................................................................2

1.2 FORMULA FOR CALCULATING TV ANNUAL ENERGY USE ..................................3

1.3 TELEVISION SET USAGE PROFILES ............................................................................3

1.3.1 Nielsen TV Set Level Viewing Data ...................................................................................3

1.3.2 Residential Energy Consumption Survey ............................................................................5

1.3.3 Ranking of TVs Within a Household...................................................................................7

1.3.4 Distribution of TV Viewing Time .......................................................................................9

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.3.1 Nielsen Data Set .......................................................................................................5

LIST OF FIGURES 

Figure 1.3.1 Comparison between RECS and Nielsen viewing hours data for primary 

TVs (2009) ...............................................................................................................6

Figure 1.3.2 Comparison between RECS and Nielsen viewing hours data for secondary 

TVs (2009) ...............................................................................................................7

Figure 1.3.3 Comparison between RECS and Nielsen viewing hours data for tertiary 

TVs (2009) ...............................................................................................................7

Figure 1.3.4 Percentage of TVs in each location, by their rank ...................................................8

Figure 1.3.5 TV ranking by screen size from RECS (2009) ........................................................8

Figure 1.3.6 Average usage by rank of TV ..................................................................................9

Figure 1.3.7 Average usage of primary and non-primary TVs, used in remainder of 

analysis .....................................................................................................................9

Figure 1.3.8 Distribution of primary TV viewing hours in one day ..........................................10

Figure 1.3.9 Distribution of non-primary TV viewing hours in one day ...................................10

Figure 1.3.10 Linear regression fit of mean hours per day by model year, for 2011 ...................12
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TELEVISION USAGE ANALYSIS

1.1 INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this television usage analysis is to establish the range of annual TV usage

in U.S. homes. This document describes the methodology that was used to determine the hours 

per day a TV is in on mode. 

DOE used data collected by The Nielsen Company (Nielsen) between May 2007 and 

May 2011 from up to 21,000 households in each month as a basis for estimating the annual usage 

of TVs. The data set includes use of the TV for viewing live broadcasts as well as for displaying 

information from external devices such as DVD players and games consoles. It also includes 

demographic information from participating households. 

Section 1.1.1 defines the different modes of use of TVs. Section 1.3 describes the method 

DOE used to derive usage profiles from the Nielsen data set. 

1.1.1 Modes of Use Considered

DOE has defined various modes of use for TVs in its Test Procedure Supplemental 

Notice of Proposed Rulea which are:

On Mode: On mode is the power mode in which the TV is connected to a mains power 

source, has been activated, and is providing one or more of its principal functions. 

Standby passive: Standby-passive mode is the power mode in which the TV is connected 

to a power source, produces neither sound nor picture but can be switched into another mode 

with the remote control unit or an internal signal. 

Standby-active, high mode: Standby-active, high mode is the power mode in which the 

TV is connected to a power source, produces neither sound nor picture but can be switched into 

another mode with the remote control unit or an internal signal, and with an external signal, and 

is exchanging/receiving data with/from an external source. 

Standby-active, low mode: Standby-active, low mode is the power mode in which the TV 

is connected to a power source, produces neither sound nor picture but can be switched into 

another mode with the remote control unit or an internal signal and can additionally be switched 

into another mode with an external signal. 

 

a The rulemaking docket can be found at: 

http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;rpp=10;po=0;D=EERE-2010-BT-TP-0026
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Off Mode: Off mode is the power mode where the TV is connected to a power source, 

produces neither sound nor picture and cannot be switched into any other mode with the remote 

control unit, an external or internal signal. 

The analysis presented below focuses on the on mode only. 

1.2 FORMULA FOR CALCULATING TV ANNUAL ENERGY USE

Television energy consumption is the sum of energy consumed in on mode, standby 

modes, and off mode. In its Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, DOE defined the 

annual energy consumption (AEC, expressed in kWh/yr) equation as follows: 

AEC = �Pon × Hon + Pstandby−active,low × Hstandby−actve,low + Pstandby−passive

× Hstandby−passive + Poff × Hoff) × 365/1000

 

Where

AEC = Annual Energy Consumption 

Pon = Power use in on mode (in W)

Pstandby-active, low = Power use in standby-active, low mode (in W)

 Pstandby-passive = Power use in standby-passive mode (in W) 

 Poff = Power use in off mode (in W)

Hon = number of hours per day spent in on mode 

Hstandby-active, low = number of hours per day spent in standby-active, low mode 

 Hstandby-passive = number of hours per day spent in standby-passive mode 

Hoff = number of hours per day spent in off mode 

 The following sections describe the analysis used to derive Hon. 

1.3 TELEVISION SET USAGE PROFILES

The data analysis described in this section is used to profile the use of an average TV in 

an average U.S. household for the 12-month period from June 2010 to May 2011, as this is the 

most recent full year of data available. This section describes the data set, and why it was chosen 

over other data sets. It then explains how the data were analyzed. 

1.3.1 Nielsen TV Set Level Viewing Data

DOE used monthly TV set-level viewing statistics from May 2007 to May 2011, obtained 

from Nielsen, to determine usage profiles. The data were collected from a representative cross-
4

section of U.S. households in each month. The number of households participating in the survey 

has grown from month to month, increasing from 12,750 in May 2007 to 20,950 in May 2011.b 

The data fields received from Nielsen are described in Table 1.3.1. Demographic and 

geographic information about participating households are included in the data, along with TV 

usage data. 

Although the Nielsen data are organized in ‘months’, the time period of data collection 

was not necessarily a calendar month. The variation from month to month was due to the specific 

days when technicians went to the household to install and collect the devices. Variations within 

a month were also seen, due to TVs that were either not plugged in during installation, being 

used at a later time during the collection period or vice versa. To obtain the true time for which a 

TV was used, the total minutes were divided by the number of days installed to convert the value 

to minutes per day, and then divided by 60 to obtain the hours per day. 

 

b Nielsen data are collected by placing a metering device on each television within a participating household. The 

device begins collecting data when the TV is turned on until it is switched into standby mode, or turned off. Any 

peripheral devices such as DVD players or games consoles are also connected to the meter and each of these will be 

allocated a code so that the meter can identify which device the TV is receiving input from. If an additional device is 

connected to the TV during the installation period the data will be received as an error with Nielsen. If errors are 

recorded for more than 75% of on-time for 3 out of 7 consecutive days, and each day has more than 60 minutes of 

on time, Nielsen will contact the participating household to identify the issue (i.e. whether they have added a new 

device). Error readings can also occur if the meter has accidently become disconnected from a device. Where audio 

devices are located at a TV site, the installer will ask the participant whether they use the TV for audio only as well.
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Table 1.3.1 Nielsen Data Set

TUNER_HOUSEHOLD_ID Unique identifier for each household

TUNER_ID

Unique ID for each TV within a household. Every TV in a household was 

recorded in the survey, whether connected to a power supply or not. But our 

dataset has filtered out any data relating to TVs that are not used during the 

survey, which is why numbers are not consecutive.

STATE_DESC State

COUNTY_DESC County

SET_BRAND_DESC Brand of the TV

TUNER_MODEL_YEAR Estimated year of TV model manufacture, based on sticker on TV set or if 

not available guess/ask consumer

LOCATION_DESC Room in the house TV is located

DAYS_INSTALLED Includes full 24 hour days (from 6am to 6am) that data was collected. Meters 

often installed a few days before data collection begins

HUT Live Viewing Total number of minutes TV was used to view live broadcast including video 

on demand

DVD Playback Total number of minutes TV was used to watch a DVD

DVR Playback Total number of minutes TV was used to watch DVR 

VCR Playback Total number of minutes TV was used to watch VCR 

Video Games Total number of minutes TV was used to play video games

Income Amount

Question is phrased as: Please include income from all current household 

members.

The data collected reflects all incomes within the household.

The income ranges included on the sheet we show the household members 

are in $5,000 increments. The reporting systems expect 1 income value; 

therefore, the values provided by EDW reflect the mid-point of that range. 

For example, an EDW income value of 43 means the household income 

range of $40,000 to $44, 999.

1.3.2 Residential Energy Consumption Survey

DOE typically uses the Energy Information Administration’s Residential Energy

Consumption Survey (RECS)1

 data to determine usage profiles. The 2009 RECS recorded 

information on television set usage by asking participants “How many hours is the television 

turned on each day?” with answers available in the following 5 bins: less than 1 hour, 1 to 3 

hours, 3 to 6 hours, 6 to 10 hours, more than 10 hours. The question was asked separately for 

‘primary’, ‘secondary’ and ‘tertiary’ television sets. 

DOE compared the responses in RECS to the recorded Nielsen data as shown in Figure 

1.3.1 to Figure 1.3.3. On average, the RECS viewing hours are lower than those recorded by 

Nielsen. DOE acknowledges that there are several common limitations to asking survey 

participants to recall the amount of time they spend in an activity, compared to taking automated 

measurements2

. Some of these include: 

(i) social desirability bias, i.e. the desire to present oneself in a way that is viewed 

favorably by others. The face to face interview format of some RECS data collection 

would be a likely contributor to this effect; 
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(ii) Asking a participant to identify how many hours watched in a typical week, means 

they will first need to identify what they consider a typical week, and then identify the 

number of hours for that typical week, which is more complicated than for example 

asking how many hours of TV they watched yesterday; 

(iii) Lower intensity activities are more difficult to recall than higher intensity activities, 

although due to the structure of television programming into timeslots, this is usually 

easier than other lower intensity activities; 

(iv) Multitasking can also lead to confounded responses as many people will have the 

television on while they are performing another activity, and may not recall this as 

television on time. Therefore the RECS data are not considered as reliable as that 

recorded by Nielsen. RECS data were still used, however, to estimate the number of TVs 

currently in use in the U.S. and the number of TVs per household. 

Figure 1.3.1 Comparison between RECS and Nielsen viewing 

hours data for primary TVs (2009) 

0.0 

10.0 

20.0 

30.0 

40.0 

50.0 

Less than 

1 Hour

1 to 3 

Hours

3 to 6 

Hours

6 to 10 

Hours

More than 

10 Hours

Percentage of responses

Hours per day

Primary TV comparison

RECS

Nielsen
7

Figure 1.3.2 Comparison between RECS and Nielsen viewing 

hours data for secondary TVs (2009) 

Figure 1.3.3 Comparison between RECS and Nielsen viewing 

hours data for tertiary TVs (2009) 

1.3.3 Ranking of TVs Within a Household 

In the Nielsen data set, DOE assigned a ranking to each TV within a household, based on 

the hours per day for which the TV was used (i.e. primary, secondary, tertiary, etc.). This method 

was chosen in favor of assigning a ranking based on the location of the TV, since room location 

and ranking are not perfectly correlated. For example Figure 1.3.4 shows the percentage of TVs 

in each location separated by their rank. While the majority of primary TVs are located in a 

living room, there are still a significant number of households using bedrooms, family room/dens 

and even basements as their primary viewing location. 

0.0 

10.0 

20.0 

30.0 

40.0 

50.0 

Less than 

1 Hour

1 to 3 

Hours

3 to 6 

Hours

6 to 10 

Hours

More than 

10 Hours

Percentage of responses

Hours per day

Secondary TV comparison

RECS

Nielsen

0.0 

10.0 

20.0 

30.0 

40.0 

50.0 

Less than 1 

Hour

1 to 3 

Hours

3 to 6 

Hours

6 to 10 

Hours

More than 

10 Hours

Percentage of responses

Hours per day

Tertiary TV comparison

RECS

Nielsen
8

Figure 1.3.4 Percentage of TVs in each location, by their rank 

 

 DOE also considered ranking TVs based on the screen size. Information relating viewing 

hours to screen size was not available in the Nielsen data set, but available in RECS. RECS 

asked participants if their TVs were ‘large screen’ in the 2001 survey. However, there is no 

definition of large in the survey questions. DOE contacted the EIA for clarification, and EIA 

explained that there was no record of what constituted ‘large screen’ during the 2001 survey or 

the subsequent 2005 survey which asked the same question. EIA acknowledged that this had 

been an issue and rephrased the question in the 2009 survey, asking participants for the diagonal 

screen size within one of four bins. In Figure 1.3.5 below, based on the 2009 survey, it can be 

seen that more than 75 % of TVs with screen size greater than 37 inches are primary. However, 

these limited data were not considered sufficient to be able to project forward the rank of TVs as 

a function of screen size. 

Figure 1.3.5 TV ranking by screen size from RECS (2009) 

0% 

10% 

20% 

30% 

40% 

50% 

60% 

70% 

80% 

90% 

100% 

Primary Secondary Tertiary Quarternary 5+

Percentage of TVs in each location

Rank of TV

Patio

Other

Office

Master Bedroom

Living Room

Kitchen

Garage

Family Room/Den

Dining Room

Detached Building

Bedroom

Basement

0.0 

10.0 

20.0 

30.0 

40.0 

50.0 

60.0 

70.0 

80.0 

90.0 

100.0 

Less than 21 Inches 21 to 36 Inches 37 Inches or More

Tertiary

Secondary

Primary
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1.3.4 Distribution of TV Viewing Time

DOE calculated the total average viewing time of a TV for each year of the survey, as 

well as separately for primary TVs, secondary TVs, etc. As can be seen in Figure 1.3.6, the time 

difference between primary and secondary TV viewing hours was significant, while going from 

secondary to tertiary was less so. The data were therefore split into primary and non-primary for 

the rest of the analysis, as seen in Figure 1.3.7. 

The distributions of average viewing hours in one day for primary and non-primary TVs 

are shown in Figure 1.3.8 and Figure 1.3.9. These distributions are for the last full year in the 

data set (June 2010-May 2011). The distribution for primary TVs is a stretched normal 

distribution, whereas the distribution for non-primary TVs is more skewed, peaking at the 0-30 

minute bin. Secondary TVs, tertiary TVs, and so on have similar distributions peaked at the 0-30 

minute bin, providing further justification for considering them as a single group. 

Figure 1.3.6 Average usage by rank of TV 

Figure 1.3.7 Average usage of primary and non-primary TVs, 

used in remainder of analysis

0 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Average hours per day

Year of data collection

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

Quarternary

5+

0 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Average hours per day

Year of data collection

Primary

Non-primary
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Figure 1.3.8 Distribution of primary TV viewing hours in one day

Figure 1.3.9 Distribution of non-primary TV viewing hours in one day

0%

1%

2%

3%

4%

5%

6%

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Percentage of TVs

Hours per day

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

18%

20%

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Percentage of TVs

Hours per day
11

Estimating total energy consumption using the average usage over all TVs would 

significantly underestimate usage if a TV was purchased as a primary TV. Estimating total 

energy consumption based on the average usage of a primary TV would, however, significantly 

overestimate the use of a TV purchased as a non-primary TV. DOE therefore estimated the 

probability that a TV would be used as a primary TV in its year of purchase. 

To do this, DOE used the Nielsen data to estimate the percentage of households for which 

the newest TV was also the primary TV. This approximately represents households whose latest 

TV purchase was intended to become a primary TV. The analysis was done for May of each 

year, as this was the only month present for all 5 years. The percentage of households using their 

newest TV as a primary rose from 55% in May 2007 to 60% in May 2008. However, this rate of 

increase slowed down after this, with a percentage increase from 2010 to 2011 of less than 1%. 

DOE therefore estimates the probability of a future TV purchase being used as a primary TV to 

remain similar to 2010 and 2011, rather than the earlier years in the Nielsen data. Given that the 

percentage of households using their newest TV as a primary TV is relatively steady, using data 

on the stock is representative of new shipments. DOE therefore assigned a probability of 65% for 

a new TV being used as a primary TV, and 35% for a new TV being used as a non-primary TV.

DOE then determined a weighted usage profile of TVs, based on the above assumed 

probabilities, in their first year of purchase. The resulting distribution is a stretched normal 

distribution similar to the one seen for primary TVs, with slightly reduced peak hours per day. 

The average is 5.5 hours per day. It should be noted, however, that this calculation is based on 

the existing stock of TVs, which may or may not be representative of new TV shipments. 

Furthermore, this probability is likely to be a strong function of screen size. Larger TVs 

are more likely to be used as a primary TV than smaller TVs. Unfortunately, the Nielsen dataset 

does not include screen size. DOE could not find another suitable dataset that includes both 

screen size and the age of TVs found in homes. Nor could DOE find any data on whether new 

shipments of TVs are used as primary TVs, as a function of size. Therefore, DOE did not assign 

different probabilities based on screen size. 

As a cross-check on the above analysis, DOE also analyzed the data as a function of TV 

age (since TV model years are recorded in the Nielsen dataset). Data for TVs of age 0 would 

therefore be indicative of new shipments, and can be averaged over primary and non-primary 

TVs. This analysis is shown in Figure 1.3.10 for 2011. On average, these new TVs are watched 5 

hours per day initially, with the average slowly declining as the TVs age. The 5.5 hours 

estimated above is based on the existing stock of TVs, whereas this estimate of 5 hours per day is 

based on new shipments only. This likely explains the difference, suggesting a slight increase in 

secondary TV purchases. The estimate of 5 hours per day is more robust (does not require any 

assumptions) and is more representative of new shipments (both primary and secondary) than the 

estimate of 5.5 hours per day. 
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Figure 1.3.10 Linear regression fit of mean hours per day by model year, for 

2011 

y = -0.0685x + 4.8129

R2 = 0.7883

0 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Mean hours per day

Years since purchase
13

REFERENCES

 

1

 US Energy Information Administration. "2009 Residential Energy Consumption Survey" 

Retrieved 8/18/2011, 2011, from http://www.eia.gov/consumption/residential/index.cfm. 

2 Pettee, K. K., S. A. Ham, et al. (2009). "The reliability of a survey question on television 

viewing and associations with health risk factors in US adults." Obesity 17(3): 487-493.