Ericsson’s latest ConsumerLab report has revealed significant growth in the number of people viewing TV on mobile devices, across both younger and older age groups.
72% of respondents say they use mobile devices to watch video at least weekly, and 42% of them do so outside the home. 75% of people multi-task by using mobile devices while watching TV. 41% of respondents aged 65 to 69 watch streamed on-demand or time-shifted video more than once a week.
“This has ramifications for the entire industry, enabling your content is available across platforms. Many are doing this but several services have severe limitations in their mobility aspects,” explained Anders Erlandsson, Senior Researcher at Ericsson ConsumerLab.
15,000 interviews with respondents aged 16 to 59 were conducted for the study, which is now in its 4th year. An additional 2,300 online interviews were conducted with people aged between 60 and 69, the self-selecting nature of the latter band perhaps over emphasising the us of the technology.
“The placeshifting where people are with their mobile devices where people can start on the way to the office on the bus, they resume a little at lunch, and watch the end before they fall asleep at night,” said Erlandsson.
Use of lap-tops, smart phones and tablets is becoming increasingly prevalent, with one out of four watching two TV programmes at the same time.
However, differences are emerging in the habits of viewers, and their choice of entertainment. Those who prefer live TV events, such as sports, are more prone to use their second screen for different things, perhaps to talk about the game, while movie buffs are more likely to watch a programme without distraction.
While scheduled TV viewing is stable in the majority of markets, there has been a dramatic decrease in the amount of broadcast TV that is recorded. This is particularly true with older viewers, the younger demographic having previously discovered the delights of on demand.
When searching for content viewers first go to their on demand service, then their TV guide, then to YouTube.
Viewers have also been assessing how much they pay for content, looking at how they can reduce costs, and opting for a la carte packages where available.
Across all nine markets surveyed 12% have reduced their TV packages and 11% cancelled their subscription, compared to 7% and 7% [sic] in the last survey 12 months ago.
“It’s not that the on demand services creating that, but instead becoming a fallback solution. The driver is simply that they are not watching enough, so they don’t think they are getting value for money,” explained Erlandsson.
The research was done in Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, UK and the United States. In all, 30 home interviews in four major cities and 15,000 online interviews with broadband users were conducted.
