Much has been made of the tendency of TV viewers to multitask – particularly those with a smartphone or tablet in hand (although multitasking doesn’t always involve one of those devices). While some have seen this trend as potentially beneficial to the industry, others worry that it distracts viewers from programs and ads. Either way, the preponderance of research indicates that multi-screening behavior most often involves activities unrelated to the content being seen on TV. Recent data from the Multimedia Research Group (MRG), though, suggests that dual-screeners are starting to engage more in TV-related activities.
According to the MRG data, 60% of smartphone and tablet owners surveyed during Q3 said they used their mobile device while watching TV, up from 52% in Q1. The majority of that growth came from device owners who claimed to frequently multitask related to the TV program they were watching, with the percentage of respondents claiming that to be the case growing from 16% in Q1 to 21% in Q3. That group is still outnumbered by those classifying their multitasking as being unrelated to the TV program they’re watching (39% of respondents in Q3, up from 36% in Q1), but a separate breakdown of respondents may provide an indicator that this might be the start of more related multitasking. Read the rest at MarketingCharts.
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