Mobile-TV viewers are more focused on TV content when viewed
on their smartphones than viewers using on larger devices, the Council for
Research Excellence (CRE) reports.
The study found that users of smartphones were multitasking
on other electronic devices while viewing TV programming only 14% of the time.
The study found much higher levels for tablets (27%), computers (31%) and TV
sets (34%).
The study also found that 39% of smartphone viewers looked
up show information, posted about the show on social networks or engaged in
some other kind of online activity relating the TV programing.
That was a higher rate than television (21%), tablet viewing
(27%) or computers (31%).
The study also found that "mobile TV viewers are often heavy
overall TV viewers and are more likely than non-mobile-TV viewers to be TV show
opinion leaders and to use social media to talk about TV," the researchers
concluded.
In addition, mobile TV viewers tended to be younger, with a
mean age of 35, and that they were more likely than the average consumer to be
higher income professionals with graduate degrees. They also reflected more
ethnic diversity than non-mobile-TV users, which confirms a growing body of
research suggesting that ethnic groups over-index on mobile usage.
Previous findings from the CRE study found that 64% of
smartphone consumption of TV programming occurs in the home.
CRE is an independent research group created in 2005 that is
funded by Nielsen.
The study, "TV Untethered," was launched in November 2012
and is designed to help researchers understand how mobile media devices -- tablets,
mobile phones and laptops -- impact overall television viewing behavior.
These most recent findings from "TV Untethered" come from
additional analyses of the study conducted by Boston-based market research firm
Chadwick Martin Bailey for the CRE.
The study was overseen by the CRE's Media Consumption &
Engagement Committee, which was cochaired by Joanne Burns, head of research for
20th Television, Fox; and Laura Cowan, research director, LIN Media.
"This research suggests greater audience measurement needs
to be directed at smartphone viewing," Burns said in a statement. "People are
bringing devices from room to room, and out of the home, and on their commutes.
TV sets still rule in the home, even for the younger demographics -- but
elsewhere, and even in the home for multitaskers, smartphones are becoming an
important device for viewing professional TV content. It all goes to
convenience and portability; more people are watching more TV -- everywhere --
and increasingly on smartphones."
The full report on the latest "TV Untethered" study
findings can be found here.
