Rising number of TV viewers also multitasking online, Nielsen reports

In the last three months of 2009, viewers had their eyes on both TV and the Internet -- at the same time -- for three and a half hours a month, up 35 percent from the previous quarter, according to the latest news from Nielsen's Three Screen Report.“The rise in simultaneous use of the web and TV gives the viewer a unique on-screen and off-screen relationship with TV programming,” said Nielsen spokesman Matt O’Grady. “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.”