IBM consumer survey says: people want personal TV

A new IBM online survey of consumer digital media and entertainment habits shows audiences are more in control than ever and increasingly savvy about filtering marketing messages. The survey shows the TV and the Internet are on equal footing as entertainment sources. 66 percent reported viewing from 1 to 4 hours of TV per day, vs. 60 percent who reported the same levels of personal Internet usage. Consumers are increasingly turning to online destinations like YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, games, or mobile entertainment vs. traditional television.

In the largest digital video recorder market, 24 percent of U.S. respondents reported owning a PVR in their home and watching at least 50 percent of television programming on replay. Surprisingly, 33 percent in the U.S. reported watching more television content than before the PVR. More than twice as many U.K. consumers surveyed use video on demand services than own a PVR, and less than a third of U.K. consumers have changed their overall TV consumption as a result of PVR ownership. In Australia, despite owning a PVR, most respondents prefer live television or replay less than 25 percent of their programming.

IBM also stopped young people from all over the world on the streets of New York to ask whether they prefer spending their free time online or watching TV. IBM’s informal street sample found surprisingly similar results to the official survey. Have a look at the video of the interviews courtesy of YouTube: