Savvy viewers are consuming TV in different ways as technology evolves, and they are increasingly watching time-shifted TV rather than live broadcasts.
The Nielsen company media study shows that watching time-shifted TV content rose to an average of 13 hours each month, a rise of two hours from the previous year. Viewers still treat the television as the main media device, even though catch-up and streaming is getting ever more popular on PC, tablets and smartphones.
The average consumers in the US owns four digital devices from a list that includes HDTV, computers, tablets, smartphones and game consoles. On average viewers spend around 60 hours each week watching content across the different platforms.
As other studies have already found, second screen usage is popular with 84% of consumers that own a smartphone or tablet using them whilst watching TV. Speaking for Nielsen, executive vice president Megan Clarken said, “It’s an incredibly exciting evolution in the ways people are using devices to get media.”
An unusual finding from the report was that 40% of adults aged 18-24 used the bathroom whilst engaged in social networking. Perhaps they were writing a tweet while taking a dump?
