TORONTO – Despite seemingly endless ways to watch, listen and browse content, Canadians continue to mainly engage with live television, according to a new research from Ipsos Reid.
The poll, known as the Canadian Media Landscape study, surveyed 11,300 Canadian adults (18+) between June – December 2014. It found that watching, (defined as any content consumed via live TV, PVR, streamed or downloaded, video on demand or on disc), took top spot in the Canadian media diet, accounting for 50% of their total media hours yesterday. More specifically, that represents 2.8 hours of a total of 5.6 hours spent with media (all forms combined). In addition, and particularly noteworthy for advertisers, is that 1.4 of those hours are spent watching TV as it is airing live.
The study also highlighted key generational differences: Millennials watch less in general, spending only 39% (2.2 hours) of their media hours in this fashion compared to 49% (2.5 hours) for Gen Xers and 57% (3.4 hours) for Boomers. Digging further into older and younger Millennials and the specific formats they watch, the research found that ‘Trailing Millennials’, defined as 18-24 year olds, watch the least amount of live TV among the generations, but it is still part of their media repertoire (7% of their total media hours). Their older counterparts, ‘Leading Millennials’ (25–32 year olds), spend twice as much time with live TV relatively speaking (16% of their media hours).
“Brands need to recognize they could be missing the mark by considering Millennials as a whole – Trailing and Leading Millennials do vary in their media behavior”, said Mary Beth Barbour, SVP with Ipsos Reid in Toronto, in the study’s news release. “And Brands also need to be cautious. From our perspective, any consideration that is being given to walking away from TV advertising entirely could very well be short sighted. That said, Trailing Millennials spend more time browsing, gaming and social networking than any other segment – important fodder for any marketer.”
The study’s findings appear to be at odds with Neilsen figures quoted in a New York Post report this week that says Millennials are tuning out at a record rate.
According to the article, traditional TV usage — which has been falling among viewers ages 18 – 34 at around 4% a year since 2012 — tumbled 10.6% between September and January. This season’s steep slide means there are almost 20% fewer young adults watching their TV sets in primetime than four years ago.
In 2011, 21.7 million young adults tuned in to their TV sets. By the end of last month, that figure had fallen to 17.8 million, according to Nielsen figures in the report.
