(23 December 2006 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: More US households now own DVD players (81.2 per cent of all households) than VCRs (79.2 per cent of households), according to Nielsen Media Research's third quarter home technology report.

As of the third quarter of 2006, DVD penetration in the US is up by six per cent from the previous year and continues to grow, while VCR penetration has started a decline. In 1999 when Nielsen first started tracking DVD ownership in its Home Tech Report, DVD penetration was only 6.7 per cent and was dwarfed by VCR ownership at 88.6 per cent.

Nielsen's latest report also found that DVD households now rent DVDs about twice per month, compared to VCR homes renting VHS tapes only about once per month. The frequency with which households rent video tapes has levelled off during the past six months.

Nielsen Media Research senior VP custom research Paul Lindstrom, says, "This study shows the culmination of a long battle for share of consumers. Nielsen clients have used information from our Home Tech Report for the past decade to trend the changes in penetration and report use of new devices as they infiltrate the marketplace, and we now see that the popularity of DVDs has finally surpassed that of VCRs.”

Some additional topline findings from Nielsen's Home Tech study include:

- Computers -- 73.4 per cent of US homes currently have a computer in the household, and homes with children and teens are more likely to have a home computer. There is a large difference in the percentage of lower income homes vs. higher income homes that own a home computer. Homes with an income over $60,000 are 50 per cent more likely to own a home computer than homes with an income below $60,000.

- Internet - 95.4 per cent of consumers with Internet access go online at least once a week, and 37.3% of Internet users go online more than once a day. 78.2 per cent of online users have made purchases over the Internet. 46.8 per cent of online users (ages 12+) have used the Internet to download and play music from the Internet.

- MP3 Players - 26.7 per cent of US homes own or rent an MP3 player. Households with the presence of children 12-17 years of age are nearly 2 ½ times more likely to own or rent an MP3 player than compared to the Total U.S. The percentage of homes owning an MP3 player has risen by 149.5 per cent since the third quarter of 2003.

- PDA - 16.4 per cent of US homes own a PDA, and since the third quarter of 2003, PDA ownership has increased by 4.5 per cent. Not surprisingly, higher income homes are more than four times as likely as lower income homes to own a PDA.