Nielsen TV Home Universe Up to 119.6M for 2017-18

Nielsen estimates that the number of television homes in the U.S. for the 2017-18 season is 119.6 million, up 1% from 118.4 last season.

The number of people age 2 and older is 304.5 million, according to Nielsen’s new universe estimates, up 0.9%.

The universe numbers are the foundation for Nielsen’s TV rating and share information, used to determine the popularity of networks and shows, as well as advertising revenue.

Amid all the talk of cord cutting, Nielsen says the percentage of homes receiving traditional TV signals via broadcast, cable, satellite, telco or via broadband-connected TV sets is 96.5%, up 0.5 percentage points from last year.

In its most recent Total Audience report, Nielsen said that the number of traditional pay TV subscribers fell 1.4%, while broadcast-only homes and streaming-only homes rose.