Online Viewing of TV Programming Up 28 Percent Over 2011, CEA Says
Two-thirds of consumers who watch TV are multi-tasking with other CE devices, according to a recent study by CEA. Among consumers aged 18-24 the number of viewers interacting with electronic devices jumps to 85 percent, CEA said. U.S. adults online report watching some type of video content an average of 3.2 hours a day, five days per week, CEA said, and 34 percent of U.S. adults online report watching more video content today than they did a year ago.
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Overall, viewing of TV video programming is up 28 percent, CEA said, attributing the increase to “convenience” and the “appeal/variety of programming.” Forty percent of respondents said they watch more content on portable devices than they did a year ago. While 66 percent of consumers use an HDTV for the majority of their TV viewing, laptop viewing was a close second at 62 percent and desktop PC viewing third at 55 percent, according to the study. A third of respondents said they watch video on their smartphones and 17 percent watch video on their tablets, it said.
Consumers are using TVs for more than viewing video content, CEA said. One in three who use a television to watch video also use it to listen to music, and 21 percent use a TV to listen to other audio programming, CEA said. Consumers under age 25 rely on their TVs more for music, social media, surfing the Web and communicating, CEA said, and overall, owners of Internet-enabled TVs use their TVs to listen to music (47 percent), use social media (28 percent), surf the Web (26 percent) and view photos (23 percent).
When considering future TV purchases, half of consumers said they will make buying decisions based on better picture quality and larger screen sizes, along with new features, and roughly half will be replacing an aging, obsolete or broken set, CEA said. One in four consumers who plan to buy a TV over the next year are leaning toward 3D TV; 21 percent plan to buy an OLED model; and 25 percent plan to buy an Internet-enabled TV, according to the survey. “While stated purchase intentions do not always translate to transactions,” CEA said, the study “clearly shows many consumers have their eyes fixed on newer TV technologies."
"The Evolving Video Landscape Study,” was administered via Internet Web form to an online national sample of 1,002 U.S. adults between Feb. 22 and March 2, 2012. The margin of sampling error at 95 percent confidence for aggregate results is plus/minus 3 percent, CEA said.