Aussies are watching more TV across more screens than they were a year ago.
The rise of the second screen, and the third, is not slowing, but TV is still the main screen, according to the latest quarterly figures from OzTAM. Teens are spending nearly 9 hours a month watching video on mobile - way above the 2 hour average for the rest of the population.
All major age groups are watching more TV than a year ago, but the second and third screen devices are complementary to main screen broadcast TV viewing, rather than a replacement.
Tablets continue to have the fasted growing adoption rate, almost half (42%) of homes now have tablet devices, up from 31% a year ago, and 40% in the previous quarter.
More Australians over the age of 16 now have a smartphone, 69% up from 61% a year ago.
The average person watched 93 hours and 16 minutes of broadcast TV at home each month – that's up 37 minutes on a year ago. More than 90% (92.2%) of viewing was live and 7.8% playback of recorded content.
Viewing by under 12s increased the most of any age group in the first three months of the year compared to the same period last year – up by 3 hours 29 minutes. The 18-24 age group increased viewing by 44 minutes, 35-49s spent 57 more minutes watching TV and the over 65s added 11 minutes.
Most age groups are also increasing the amount of time they spend watching recorded TV, up 27 minutes on average.
Nearly 8 hours a month are spent watching online video, either from catch-up services or other streamed content, on laptops or desktop computers. The rise of viewing on mobile and tablets rises “in tandem” with their take up, according to OzTAM.
Nearly two hours (1:56) is spent by people over 16 watching video on mobile, and 1 hour 47 minutes on tablets, on average.
Nearly three quarters (74%) of Australians say they use the internet while watching TV, steady on the same period a year ago, but up from 60% in 2011.
Teens and women are the most likely to be multitasking on multiple screens while watching TV, and most often it is on a laptop, followed by desktop, mobile then tablet.
Nielsen’s senior vice president of cross platform audience measurement, Erica Boyd said: “With increasing media touch points, we are all consuming more content now than ever before: more TV, more video, more audio and more text. While video is not a primary activity conducted on mobile screens today, these additional media devices present large opportunities for programmers and advertisers to increase engagement with viewers through multi-screen strategies and ultimately better understand engagement levels of TV viewers across media touch points.
“The task-ahead is for broadcasters and brands to work together to engage eye balls with compelling content that keeps viewers attached to the main screen when it matters. In addition, opportunities exist for those who develop smart cross-platform strategies and executions that use the second and third screens to enhance and complement the main screen, extending advertising reach and resonance and engagement across multi-screening audiences,” said Boyd.
Over a quarter (27%) of homes have internet ready TV sets, up from 21% a year ago and 80% of homes have an internet connection.
PVR penetration is steady at 54% but 14% of households have more than one, which means more people have the ability to skip the ads when recording live TV.
Age relevant stats:
• 16-17 year-olds report the most amount of time watching video on mobile phones, at 8 hours 48 minutes per month
• People 16-17 (along with 25-34s) have the greatest tendency of all online Australians to multi-task
• Social media is the online activity 16-17s most often use tablets for, followed by email. They use laptop and desktop computers primarily for search and email.
• Watching online video is 16-17 year-olds’ fourth most common activity on computers, sixth on tablets and tenth on smartphones.
• 18-24s are among the lightest TV viewers but watch more than a year ago, and spend the most time in aggregate of any age group watching TV and other video on connected devices – 24:07 per month across PC/laptops, plus their claimed viewing on tablets and mobiles, compared to 45:14 watching TV on conventional sets.
• Watching online video is 18-24s’ fifth most common activity on computers, fourth on tablets and eleventh on smartphones.
25-34 year-olds are the second-heaviest viewers of video on a PC/laptop, spending 10:05 per month doing so in Q1 2014.
• Online Australians aged 25-34 (along with teens) are the age group most likely to multi-task
• 25-34s say watching online video is their fourth most common activity on tablets, eighth most popular activity on desktop/laptops, and eleventh on their smartphones.
• The top online activities among 35-49s are email and search (tablets and computers), and checking weather and directions (mobile phones).
• Watching online video is 35-49s’ seventh most-common self-reported activity on tablets, though video viewing falls outside their top ten on desktop/laptops and smartphones.
• People 50-64 spent 5:20 per month viewing video on a PC/laptop in the quarter.
• 50-64s report spending 51 minutes and 25 minutes per month viewing video on tablets and mobile phones, respectively.
• 68 per cent of online Australians aged 50-64 say they multi-task
• People over 65 are the heaviest TV viewers, spending 150:36 each month watching broadcast TV in Q1 2014 (+11 minutes year-on-year).
• People 65+ increased their Playback viewing year-on-year more than other age groups (+1:47 per month to 9:51 each month in the quarter).
• Over-65s are less likely than other age groups to multi-task
The report is jointly compiled by OzTAM, Regional TAM and Nielsen.
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