Television
does not appear to be suffering the same way as its older mainstream media
cousin, the newspaper. Deloitte’s 2009 “State of the Media Democracy”
survey reports a 26 percent increase in the Americans choosing TV as their
favorite type of media compared to the previous year. This is likely influenced
by the recession. More than 70 percent of those surveyed rank watching TV in
their top three favorite media activities. When ranked alongside activities
such as surfing the Web, listening to music or reading, 34 percent of consumers
place it at the top. This is a substantial increase from last year and more
than double those selecting the number two choice, the Web, which came in at 14
percent.
When
watching their favorite TV shows, 86 percent of respondents prefer watching on
their television set, either live, via their DVR/TiVo, or using an “On Demand”
feature. While less than 10 percent of Americans say they prefer watching
the same content online, a growing number of consumers are using online
platforms to watch their favorite TV shows.
Consumers
are watching close to 18 hours of television programming on their home TV in a
typical seven day week — up notably from less than 16 hours last year. Looking
at the interest in TV – Web convergence, 65 percent of respondents would like
to be able to easily connect their home TV to the Internet so that they can
view videos or downloaded content. This is a significant trend that has gained
strength over the last three years. Of course, the reverse could occur with
more TV on computers. A move in
this direction would allow for more search and data mining capabilities.
The
study also looked at mobile device use. One-third of surveyed consumers use
their mobile phone as an entertainment device and 47 percent of smart phone
owners identify the device as one of their three most valuable media and
entertainment products — a significant increase from 20 percent last year. I
certainly use my iPhone as an entertainment device as much as a mobile phone.
The
Deloitte survey also indicates that mobile phone use is rapidly separating the
Internet experience from the desktop for almost half of the population.
Forty-eight percent of those surveyed have data plans for their mobile phones
and 42 percent are using their phones to access the Internet. The report
suggests that this decoupling is expected to facilitate new consumer behavior
including mobile search, social networking and purchasing.
The
most popular mobile activities, according to the survey include: text messaging
(72 percent), accessing the Internet (42 percent), online search (30 percent),
downloading applications (27 percent) and using GPS (26 percent).
The
report also looked at advertising. TV still holds strong here with 83 percent
of consumers identifying TV advertising as one of the top three media with the
most impact on their buying decisions. In the online world, over half of all U.S. consumers believe
that online customer reviews and ratings influence their buying decisions more
than any other type of online advertising, and 51 percent have purchased
products based on an online recommendation. In addition, 24 percent of U.S.
consumers would like to have an online service that recommends a product based
on other consumers’ preferences.
Social
networking continues to rise. According to the survey, one-quarter of U.S.
consumers are socializing online almost every day and nearly 60 percent
currently maintain a social networking site, up from 48 percent last year. The
connections maintained over social networks provide powerful sources for
trusted recommendations. The
content generated through social networking provides a rich source for
understanding the collective mindset of consumers. A tool such as Darwin’s
Awareness Engine (TM) can help understand the themes emerging from these
conversations and discover the unexpected.
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