Tuesday, Aug 18, 2026 The claims desk. Receipts included. POWERED BY LENZ
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Modern televisions commonly draw about 50 to 200 watts in use.

The Claim

One hour of television viewing uses approximately 70 to 100 watt-hours of electricity.

The Short Version

The stated range is plausible for some modern televisions but is too narrow as a general estimate. Credible figures vary from roughly 50 to 200 watt-hours per hour for many sets, with consumption strongly affected by screen size, display technology, settings, and viewing method. Some measurements fall below 70 Wh, while larger or higher-powered models can substantially exceed 100 Wh.

Caveats

  • Television power consumption varies substantially by screen size, display technology, brightness, and picture settings.
  • Figures for direct television power draw should not be conflated with estimates that include set-top boxes, streaming devices, networks, or other delivery infrastructure.
  • The 70–100 Wh range describes some televisions, not a reliable range for all common models.

The Receipts

  1. Research & Development

    downloads.bbc.co.uk

  2. Televisions, Computers, and Set-top Boxes: The Big Three of 2010 Home Consumer Electronics Energy Consumption

    aceee.org

  3. Save energy using the TV, computers and electronics

    sa.gov.au

  4. NRDC Issue Paper: TELEVISIONS: Active Mode Energy Use and Opportunities for Energy Savings

    nrdc.org

  5. How Many Watts Does a TV Use? - EnergySage

    energysage.com

  6. LED Vs OLED: Which TV Technology Uses More Electricity?

    slashgear.com

  7. Decoding Green Streaming - Part II of III Evaluation of Measurements - Video-Dev

    websites.fraunhofer.de

  8. Purchasing Energy-Efficient Televisions | Department of Energy

    energy.gov

  9. Can you save money on your electric bill by buying an OLED TV? We ran the numbers | Tom's Guide

    tomsguide.com

  10. How Many Watts Does a TV Use: 24, 32, 50, 55, 65 - Inch TV and More [With a Data Table] - Jackery

    jackery.com

+ 16 more sources — see the full list on Lenz