41% of U.S. households have a game console - Nielsen survey

According to a recent survey done by Nielsen, 41% of all U.S. households have a video game console which is up from 39.1% in 2005. An even more staggering figure is that 1.6 million people are playing a console at any given minute according to Nielsen.

The study tracked game console usage in the fourth quarter of 2006 and found that 93.8 million people played a console at least once from September 18 to December 31st 2006. By the end of 2006, 148.4 million people had access to at least one console which is 52.4% of the total U.S. population.

Demographically, younger teenagers predictably have more consoles with 80% of 12 to 17 year-olds having a console while 67.7% of men 18 to 34 years owning a console.