US tablet and smartphone owners are increasingly multitasking when it comes to watching TV, according to data released by The Nielsen Company in October 2011. Roughly 40% of tablet and smartphone owners in the US used their devices daily while watching TV, while only 14% of e-reader owners said they watched TV while using their device every day.
Tablet (28%) and smartphone (24%) users also use their devices while watching TV several times a week at twice or close to twice the 14% rate of e-reader users. Rates of doing so several times a month are virtually identical for users of all three devices, while the percentage of e-reader users who never watch TV while using their device (45%) is close to four times that of tablet (12%) and smartphone (13%) users.
Females Socially Network More during TV
Female tablet and smartphone owners are more likely than male tablet and smartphone owners to visit social networking sites via their devices while watching TV. Forty-eight percent of females visited a social networking site during a program in Q2 2011, 37% more than the 35% of males who did so. Similarly, 47% of females visited a social networking site during a commercial, 30% more than the 36% of males who did so.
However, men were much more likely to check sports scores via mobile device while watching TV. Forty-four percent of men engaged in this activity, about 2.6 times the 17% of women who did so.
Email Top TV Activity
Email was the top activity for both men and women during television programming and commercial breaks, with about 60% of both women and men checking email while watching TV. Surfing for unrelated information during programming and commercials came in second, with between 44% and 46% of both men and women doing so.
1 in 4 Tablet, Smartphone Owners Watch Less TV
Only one in four (25%) tablet owners say they watch less TV as a result of tablet ownership, while about the same percentage (23%) say they use a cell phone/smartphone less often, according to data released in October 2011 by GfK MRI.
About the Data: The Nielsen Company collected data during Q2 2011.
