Well, I don’t have a study to that proves my theory [more people are using their laptops while watching tv] but I know it’s true in my house.
Both Shannon and I frequently use our laptops while the television is on. Our wireless home network makes this possible. Shannon can update her blog and check email and I can work / research / blog while the tele’s on.
I wanted to point out the laptop use while watching tv trend out because MediaPost released some info today about multitasking while watching tv. But they didn’t include anything about using a laptop via a wifi connection to surf the net. I think that’s the biggest one of all and I don’t think the study even checked for it.
- 41% of primetime viewers turn on the TV to watch a specific show “most of the time”.
- 45% of primetime TV viewers are watching TV by themselves, versus 31% a decade ago.*
- 47 percent of viewers switch channels during some part of a program. Most commonly because a program ends or to skip a commercial as compared to 33 percent in 1994.
- The proportion of viewers doing other things, such as talking, snacking or reading while watching primetime TV, has increased slightly since 1994, from 67% to 75%.
- One third of primetime viewers watch primetime TV out of their homes at least once a week, most commonly at friends’ or relatives’ homes.
- 47% percent of the respondents believe that primetime advertising is better than other daypart advertising at making them aware of new products.
- Videogame use during primetime increased from 1 percent to 6 percent in the past ten years.
Come on guys, when are the researchers going to start asking the right questions? Huh, please tell me! The study was conducted by Knowledge Networks and was released by Dan Stanton, their Director of Marketing Communications.
Jason Dowdell is a technology entrepreneur and operates the Marketing Shift blog.
