MUMBAI: The universe of US television homes is growing-and so is the TV audience. According to Nielsen?s 2014 Advance National TV Household Universe Estimate (UE), there are 115.6 million TV homes in the U.S., up by 1.2 per cent from the 2012-2013 estimate of 114.2 million.

Nielsen estimates that 294 million persons age two and older live in these TV homes, an increase of 1.6 per cent from last year.

Nielsen uses US Census Bureau data and auxiliary sources such as state governments and the U.S. postal service to arrive at Advance TV UEs in early May before the television industry?s upfronts. It then distributes final UEs before the start of each TV season.
 
Nielsen senior VP insights and analysis Pat McDonough said, "This year, the Advance National TV UEs are as we expected. Though we see slight shifts reflecting trends in population changes, the Advance UEs are largely stable and television viewing remains very strong. The expansion of the definition of a TV household, which we announced in February 2013, will include viewing from additional sites in current homes and new homes for the September TV season. In collaboration with clients, we continue to expand the reach of television audience measurement-how and where consumers choose to view content."