It’s bad news for advertisers and television studios alike. Nielsen says many people just aren’t watching the old boob tube anymore. An interesting metric for Nielsen to record, the number of people who watch television at least once a month, declined seven percent last year.

This data comes from over fifty countries. Conversely, the number of folks who viewed an online video increased to 84%. That means, at this current point in time, more people are watching online videos than preprogrammed television shows. It’s definitely a shift, especially considering that television has been viewed as a staple in evolved societies, much like running water and electricity.

The data from Nielsen suggests that many people are choosing to watch video content online instead of channel surfing and searching for something to watch the old fashioned way. Of course, this means a decline in subscription for the local cable providers. Perhaps some folks have traded the expense of cable for faster internet connections and wi-fi capability.

With such a rich variety of choices online, many consumers choose to spend their time doing things other than watching traditional television programming. Whether it’s watching streaming videos, social sharing, networking, or just plain surfing the web, people are choosing the internet over television. I think it’s a positive trend.