In good news for those concerned about our evolving into creatures with enormous thumbs and no legs, a study by private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson found that the average American's time spent viewing/listening to media last year actually dropped in 2006, down 0.5% to only 3,530 hours, or a mere 9.67 hours per day.

The study attributes the decrease to the efficiency of on-demand media such as the internet, where we can find specific content without needing to wade through irrelevant information. Examples of this might be watching a YouTube clip of The Daily Show vs. sitting through the whole half-hour, or reading this blog vs. poring over the Wall Street Journal.

VSS believes that this trend reversal is temporary, but projects growth in time spent at a modest 0.5% per year over the next five years.

The decrease is not reflected in spending in the media industry, however. According to the report, communications spending was up a huge 6.8% in 2006, and averaged 5.9% over the past five years. VSS projects a 6.7% growth rate through 2011.

In marketing dollars, the strongest growth segments were in alternative advertising (no surprise there), which grew 36.6% last year vs. a paltry 2.4% in traditional venues. Other marketing avenues such as direct mail also suffered, up only 5% for the year and 4% over the five-year period.

In positive news for companies such as Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO), VSS expects internet advertising by dollar volume to pass print media in 2011, projecting it will reach almost $62 billion.

To all the television executives who shiver at the statistics of higher internet usage amid lowered television rankings, has there ever been any thought to the increase in internet usage actually leading to increased television viewing? Just like those who download music illegally to get a taste -- and then "buy" an entire album afterwards --- the same connection may exist between content in the internet world and content from the broadcast television world. Maybe.

Consumers just want more television -- and a barrage of announcements support that over and over again each and every year. When Microsoft and Apple are trying like mad to move content off the PC and into the living room (read: onto the television), you know that the cultural significance of the boob tube is not going away so easily, even as the numbers of viewers for some programs wane. But -- alas -- the broadcast networks and even cable television networks may have new competition -- where tons of new content is piped from a PC or directly from the internet into the television set in the living room. That is the thought that scares existing television network executives -- and it should.

Televisions as equipment are not going away -- but the supply of content could be changing with the advent and popularity of broadband internet piped into homes. Ever heard of IPTV? That's just one in a slew of new technologies that could be changing things -- but all the while, that new flat-panel HDTV isn't going anywhere soon.

Worried about the futures of companies with huge television and cable businesses, like News Corporation (NYSE:NWS), Viacom, Inc. (NYSE:VIA), Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX) and General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), as American consumers supposedly watch less TV?

Count the sheer number of television sets around the country these days and it will ease your worries. In barber shops, tanning salons, grocery stores, day cares, massage parlors and pizza joints -- Americans love their television viewing time. In fact, TVs now outnumber the quantity of actual humans inside U.S. households. There are 2.73 televisions and only 2.53 actual people in the average American home.

This stat flies in the face of research that says television networks are losing throngs of customers to ad-skipping TiVo and Internet browsing, among other things.

Is television viewing on the decline? The number of TVs would *seem* to indicate that TVs are being utilized now more than ever.

New TV technology is a big part of that story. Huge and heavy CRT televisions are now being replaced by LCD TVs at a fast rate, which opens up new areas where TVs can be placed. It's hard to have a 15" TV on the kitchen counter, but you can throw a 15" LCD TV there pretty easily these days without compromising space. Why not watch The Food Channel while cooking up a Paula Deen recipe in the food center of every home, the kitchen? Paula would call that faintsy.

With half of American homes having three televisions these days -- and only 19% having just one -- it's hard to imagine the television going away anytime soon. That would be some packed landfills in the next decade if predictions of "the death of TV" were to come true!

It's the content that will come across those screens that is likely to change, yes? HDTV, cable television, DBS satellite and possibly WiMAX-TV will all be battling for each viewer while still trying to get viewers to watch advertising that gadgets will make an afterthought. So, how many TVs do you have in your household?