This is the third in my four-part series about the American audience this week, for paid subscribers only. Part 1 covered geography, age, race and gender; Part 2, politics, money and religion.

One thing to note about this series: I’m describing both the way things are going AND the the way things stand right now. Trends vs. the current situation. These two things often get confused and lead people to talk past each other.

Take the religion example from yesterday’s installment. Yes, America is becoming less religious. The category “religiously unaffiliated” has seen huge gains in the last 20 years; that doesn’t mean that America is no longer religious. I’m sure some of you were surprised by the statistic yesterday that 1 in 3 Americans does not believe in evolution, for example. At this moment, more Americans are religious than not, even though the trend line is headed down.

So keep that in mind as we move into the next part of our analysis of the American viewer. The first two parts covered the “who.” Today we jump into the “how” — how American viewers actually view their programming.

I hope some of these insights will be useful, particularly in the context of streaming growth plateauing in the U.S. and the industry’s (re)pivot to advertising.

In today’s edition I’ll answer:

• How much TV Americans actually watch

• When do they watch

• How do they watch

• How are habits changing

• What month has lowest viewership (it’s not what you think)

• Hidden opportunities as I see them

(FYI, tomorrow I will cover what Americans watch on those TV screens.)

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