<P> Television consumption has for decades constituted a major part of media consumption in Western culture . According to a Nielsen report, United States adults are watching five hours and four minutes of television per day on average (35.5 h / week, slightly more than 77 days per year). Older people watch more (less than 50 h / week), younger people less (more than 20 h / week), both with a seasonal pattern that peaks in the winter months . While overall media consumption continues to rise, live TV consumption was on the decline in 2016 . </P> <P> In 2009 the numbers were generally lower but still amounted to 9 years in front of the screen for an average 65 - year - old American (more than 4 h / day, 28 h / week). Given the 30% of local TV news broadcast time devoted to advertising, this results in 2 million TV commercials seen by the average person by age 65 . An average child in the US will see 20,000 of 30 - second TV commercials per year . The time spent watching commercials is reduced when watching recorded TV It has even been surmised that due to media multitasking, TV commercials are largely ignored . </P>

How much tv does the average person watch a day