Tablet Use in Front of the TV Becoming More Widespread

April 10, 2013

This article is included in these additional categories:

Digital | Europe & Middle East | Mobile Phone | Social Media | Television

Accenture-Devices-Used-Multitasking-While-Watching-TV-Apr2013A survey of 3,501 consumers in Brazil, France, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the US has found that regular use of tablets while watching TV (on a TV set) has soared from 11% in 2012 to 44% this year. Also seeing growth in use were computers and laptops (77% vs. 61%), mobiles and smartphones (68% vs. 42%), books and newsletters (58% vs. 27%), and game consoles (34% vs. 9%), per the Accenture study [pdf]. Interestingly, tablets are being used relatively more for TV-related content than the other devices.

Specifically, while 17% report using a tablet for activities unrelated to TV content, 14% are searching content on the TV, and 14% use their device for social media activities about a TV program.

By comparison, 38% use their mobile or smartphone for unrelated content, compared to 21% who use it to search content and 23% for related social media activities. Computers and laptops are used more often than tablets and smartphones for each of the listed activities, but the gap in usage between related and unrelated activities on these devices is larger than for tablets.

The Accenture study also looks at the types of video content watched on the internet over various devices. On tablets, user-generated content (i.e. YouTube videos) are the most commonly viewed (51%), followed by short videos/clips (44%), full-length movies and TV series (33%), and live content (i.e. sports, news, TV programs – 29%).

On mobiles and smartphones, user-generated content is slightly more popular than short videos and clips (50% and 49%, respectively), but there is more of an audience for live content (21%) than full-length movies and TV series (14%). Full-length movies and TV series are most popular by a large margin on both TV sets without a set top box and those connected through set top boxes.

About the Data: The research was conducted in February and March 2013. The survey was conducted online in local language. The sample is representative of the national population except in Brazil where it is representative of the online population.

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