“Two hundred channels and nothing’s on” is an old television industry adage (although Bruce Springsteen only had 57), but it doesn’t appear to ring true in Irish households.

Adults here watched an average of three hours and 35 minutes of television every day in 2012, according to official TAM Ireland/Nielsen figures, up eight minutes on the average amount of television watched two years earlier. It also equates to more than 25 hours of viewing each week.

Some 92 per cent of this viewing is to “linear” television, or television as it is broadcast. The other 8 per cent relates to viewing watched via time-shifting, such as on a personal video recorder (for example, Sky+ or UPC’s digital video recorder).

More than half (53 per cent) of all television homes in Ireland now have a PVR, up substantially on a year earlier, a TAM Ireland survey conducted in January reveals.

The ratings company’s “housekeeper” category and people aged 55-plus were the heaviest viewers in 2012, with both groups watching more than four hours of television every day.

Consumers are embracing the choice of the multi-channel age, says TAM Ireland chief executive Jill McGrath. “Television continues to receive a growing share of the population’s attention despite increased competition for that attention from other sources.”