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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

We Are Media Multi-Taskers

Do you multi-task?  Watch TV as you read the newspaper, read a book while listening to music, or at the very least drive and change radio stations?  Then you probably surf the web and watch TV at the same time, too.  So this research news should come as absolutely no surprise, "A new study from KPMG finds that 60% of American television viewers are devoted multitaskers, watching TV and accessing the Internet at the same time."  We seem to have short levels of attention and the web is a perfect distraction to active TV watching.

Many companies are hoping that we will multi-task with second screens that are connected to the TV and augment the content that we are watching; in some cases, like a live sporting event or awards show, we might align screens.  But it seems to me that most of the time, the two screens are doing different things.  From reading emails to playing games or checking on websites, we keep one eye on one screen as the other plays on.  Add another person into the room and into the equation and our heads are probably spinning as we concentrate on each activity.  Thank goodness the cable box has a pause button.

The other research finding confirms that more people still like to watch video on their big screen TV.  The flexibility of smartphones and tablets are great, but when it comes to long form programming, it is hard to beat the big HDTV screen.