TORONTO – The story of TV and the Internet is not one of competition, it’s one of synergy, according to the Television Bureau of Canada (TVB).
According to a TVB-commissioned survey conducted by BBM Analytics in August, 40-50% of people under the age of 55 use the Internet while simultaneously watching television, and they pay attention to both while doing so. And more than half of those surveyed in this demographic have gone on-line based on something they saw in a TV commercial.
Almost half (47.7%) of adults 18+ reported going on-line to search for information or a website based on something they saw in a television commercial, and for the 18-34 demographic, this was even higher at 57.4%. When on-line, 81.7% of adults 18+ researched the product or service they saw advertised on TV, 25.8% requested information, and 12.4% made a purchase.
The survey, which polled 1000 people, also found that adults 18+ still overwhelmingly prefer watching TV programs in the comfort of their own home on a TV set (93.3%). Just 4.2% said they would want to watch TV programs on their work or home computer, while 1.1% said that they preferred watching them elsewhere on a mobile device. Over three-quarters of those surveyed (77%) said that a computer or mobile device could not replace watching TV programs on their home TV as their preferred method of viewing.
Internet use appears to be having little effect on time spent with TV. According to BBM RTS Spring 2010, light Internet users aged 12+ spend 23.3 hours watching TV a week, while medium and heavy Internet users both spend 22.8 hours. Comparatively, people who do not use the Internet watch 26 hours of television a week.
Rather than taking away from time spent with television, people are using both TV and the Internet at the same time. TVB’s TV/Internet Survey found that 37.8% of adults 18+ used TV and the Internet simultaneously, and 69.4% reported paying attention to both. For the 18-34 demographic, the attentiveness level was even higher at 71.3%. Over two-thirds (67.4%) of adults 18+ said they switched back and forth between paying attention to each medium.
Full results from the TVB’s TV/Internet Survey can be found here.
