What’s America Watching on Television?

What exactly are Americans watching on television these days? More than a quarter (27%) of American adults (age 18 and over) say they watch news more often than anything else, while 20% of teens (age 12-17) say their top choice is the sitcom.

In a recent study by Opinion Research Corporation, virtually the entire population (97% of adults and 96% of teenagers) admit watching some television every week. The top watched television programs by adults were TV news (27%), sports (14%) and sitcoms (14%).

Teenagers, on the other hand, spend their hours in front of the tube watching sitcoms (20%), movies (18%) and cartoons (18%). Comparatively, only 3% of teens say they spend their viewing time watching TV news, yet about the same number of teens and adults watch sports programs (13% vs. 14%).

Interestingly, the study also revealed that while adults confessed to watching an average of 17 hours of television each week, one quarter of them (25%) watch more than 20 hours and in some cases over 30 hours (12%) of TV each week.

This was surprisingly more than teenagers, who said they watch an average of only 11 hours of television each week, with just 13% watching more than 20 hours in a typical week.