I can’t speak for everyone, but I know how much my television viewing habits have changed over the last few years. Between the DVR, Hulu, and my Apple TV, my routine has changed drastically from just five years ago.

For one thing, I watch more. It seems fairly simple, but with better access to view the shows I want, when I want, I watch more. True, I pretty much only watch recorded programs, and pretty much always fast forward through the commercials, but I most certainly watch a lot more than I used to.

So, the most recent research from Nielsen’s Three Screen report shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone – video viewing is up. According to their research, overall viewing is up by 1.5% over the same quarter last year, including, as you’d expect, an increase in internet video viewing.

More interesting is the data on simultaneous TV viewing and internet usage, which is at 56.9%. Quite a large number, but certainly not a surprise to me. I can think of a zillion times I’ve been in the middle of watching a show and felt the immediate need to look up an actor on IMDB, or Wikipedia.

These patterns are just glimpses into the future as media consumption continues to change. These changes will result in increased consumption, not decreased, but with better control and more choice. Hopefully quality won’t suffer in the meantime. But it’s time that programmers got smarter about how to bring the three screens together during programming. It’s time we moved beyond SMS voting campaigns…