Tablets a TV friend: 85 percent of tablet owners use the device while watching shows
The tablet's ability to deliver content has been considered a threat to PC and cable companies, but new data shows 85 percent of people using their tablets while watching the television, according to a report by Forrester.
Context & Ripple Effects
The Forrester finding extends a pattern already identified in 2011, when Nielsen characterized tablets as TV companions, and reinforced by a later survey of tablet and smartphone multitasking. Rather than treating tablet viewing as a clean replacement for television, the accumulating evidence describes two screens being used in the same session.
The result matters to TV programmers, cable companies and publishers because the tablet is becoming part of the viewing environment in which their audiences are already engaged.
First-order effects
- Forrester's 85% figure gives TV programmers and cable companies evidence that tablet use often accompanies television viewing rather than displacing it outright.
- Tablet owners are dividing attention between a television program and a connected personal screen, creating an audience that can consume related information or media during a show.
Second-order effects
- TV programmers and advertisers gain a stronger rationale to design companion content and campaigns that connect a broadcast audience with tablet activity.
- Publishers competing for tablet attention can target viewing-time use cases, while television companies have an incentive to keep audiences engaged across both screens.
Third-order effects
- If repeated surveys continue to show simultaneous use, television measurement and advertising strategies will need to treat the viewing session—not a single device—as the relevant unit of audience attention.
The trend: Media consumption is moving toward multi-screen viewing, with tablets serving as a connected companion to television rather than only as a substitute display.