According to a new report by Nielsen Media Research, most users of Apple iPod use the portable media player for listening to music or audio podcasts rather than watching movies or TV.
This was among the findings in a study conducted by the audience-measurement service in October, the first time it has gathered data on the audience for Apple iPod. The iPod research conducted by Nielsen is the first publicly available independently published data on consumption habits for the device. Nielsen monitored 400 iPod users in the U.S. from Oct. 1-27 as part of its new initiative, Anywhere Anytime Media Measurement, which aims to measure audiences on myriad emerging digital platforms.
The findings show less than 1 percent of content items played by iPod users on either iTunes or the device itself were videos. Among video iPod users, that percentage barely improves, up to 2.2 percent. The study also found that 15.8 percent of iPod users have played a video on either iPod or iTunes. About one-third of that group doesn't own a video iPod.
According to Nielsen's "Home Tech Report," a separate ongoing tracking of new technologies, about 13 percent of U.S. households own at least one iPod, amounting to about 15 million -- 30 percent of which are video-enabled iPods. By Apple's own count, nearly 70 million iPods have been sold to date.
