One Screen is not Enough for Tablet Owners
A recently released analysis of survey data points out that tablet owners are almost perpetually using their devices while watching TV. Interestingly enough, 42-percent of those surveyed admit that they use their tablets while watching TV on a daily basis.
Also included in the results are the low percentage of e-reader owners who use their devices while watching the tube (only 14-percent). The survey did not stop here however, asking what exactly the users were doing while watching their favorite programs.
The survey breaks down demographics by gender while also grouping tablet and smartphone users. Coming in on top, checking email is the most popular activity on a tablet/smartphone, followed by surfing the web and social networking.
As you can see, the leading demographic in usage during television watching is the female category in most cases. The extreme exception of course, is checking sports scores, which almost half of male tablet/smartphone users do while watching TV.
Some of the more surprising statistics are those relating to advertising. One would think that as someone watches commercials and advertisements, they might be more inclined to look up the closest store or restaurant. According to the histogram above however, the iPad is rarely used to research products seen on TV, or at least while still watching.
I also find it surprising that so many tablet users are surfing the internet, looking at content unrelated to the TV show they are watching. It’s starting to look like the TV is just there to provide static noise while the real interest is being given to the tablet or smartphone, especially since those surfers don’t seem to be waiting until commercials to browse away.
The social networking scene is dominated by females, hovering just below 50-percent whether during programming or commercials.
Like most technology surveys and studies, this presents an opportunity to ask even more questions, especially one of the most important ones: why? Why do the percentages remain unchanged during commercials vs. during programming? Do you think these number are indicative of our increasing reliance on screens for entertainment (now that we apparently need 2 or more at once)?