Tablet and mobile activities are as likely to keep device owners awake as are TV and computer activities, according to a July 2012 survey from Wave Collapse, which asked mobile device owners who had engaged in a number of leisure activities in the past week to identify which they stayed up late to do the previous night. While 62% who had watched a movie on TV stayed up to do so, 59% who had viewed a video, movie, or TV show on their tablet stayed up as well.
These late-night viewers choose to stay up late, and are not necessarily insomniacs who suffer from sleeplessness; but insomniacs too enjoy digital TV delivery. June survey findings from Resonate indicate that insomniacs are 30% more likely than the online adult population (OAP) to spend 40+ hours per week online, and far more likely (by 34%) than the OAP to watch TV content on a computer, on a tablet (31%), or on a mobile phone (24%).
Meanwhile, Wave Collapse found that roughly two-thirds of respondents who played a game on a computer stayed up late to do so. 54% of tablet-gamers did the same, as did 51% who played on a game console did the same, and 46% who played on a mobile phone.
Ad Recall Great; Relevance Less So
Ad recall was generally high among these consumers late at night, but they scored those ads fairly low for relevance. The highest recall was found among those who watched ads on TV during a show late at night, at more than 70%, but these consumers ranked the relevance of these ads quite low (less than one-third giving the ads they recall seeing a top-2 box rating of relevancy).
The highest ad relevance was for those who recalled seeing an ad while stayed up watching video on a tablet, at roughly 45%, yet less than 60% recalled seeing such ads. Still, this form factor was among only 3 of the 12 activities that scored in the top quartile in recall and relevance, alongside those watching video on a computer, and browing the internet on a mobile (excluding tablets).
The lowest relevance was reported by those playing games on mobile devices, at less than 50% of those who recalled seeing ads, while the lowest recall by far was for those who stayed up playing games on consoles, at roughly one-quarter of this group.
All other delivery methods ranked higher in recall than in relevance.
Tablets, Mobiles More Distracting
When asked about their state of mind during those late-night hours (relaxed versus anxious, happy versus sad, focused versus distracted), the progression was consistently this: TV watchers were the most relaxed, happy and focused, followed by computer users, mobile users and tablet users.
That is not to say that tablet users are miserable; they reported themselves halfway between relaxed and anxious, and leaning toward happy versus sad. Even so, generally speaking, they leaned towards feelings of distraction as opposed to being focused.
The Wave Collapse report suggests that with focus lower and distraction higher than at other times of day, these late-night consumers are more open to engaging in content, but that higher feelings of anxiety may mean that ad messages need to be refined for post-bedtime hours.
About The Data: Wave Collapse in July 2012 conducted an online survey of 500 consumers aged between 18 and 65, each of whom owned an iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, or BlackBerry.
