Traditional TV loses out to tablets

Orange has announced the results of its ‘Orange Exposure 2011’ survey, an annual independent study conducted by TNS into mobile media habits across UK, France, Spain and Poland. Now in its fourth year, the survey reveals some marked differences in behaviour between mobile and tablet usage both inside and outside the home.

 

The research suggests that people use smartphones to ‘kill time’ when they don’t have access to other screens, whereas they use tablets to ‘save time’ in place of other screens to be more efficient.

 

In the UK, 35 per cent of tablet users watch on-demand content on their tablets, 40 per cent watch streaming content and 39 per cent watch ‘broadcast TV’ on their tablet. As well as having a supposed negative impact on traditional TV viewing, the survey reports that the UK has also seen a 15 per cent decrease in PC usage, due to tablet use.

However, in France 19 per cent of users say they watch more TV as a result of their mobile media usage.

 

While tablet usage is similar to PC usage in the UK with 95 per cent of usage at home, in Spain, mid-sized tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab are being used rather like smartphones as navigation devices outside the home. Bruce Hoang, Group Marketing Director of the Orange Advertising Network said:

 

“This is the first time we have included tablet usage in the Orange Exposure report and the findings are quite stark in their description of how people are using devices. Clearly the one size fits all approach for digital content across TV, PC, smartphone and tablet does not work and this has significant implications for content producers and advertisers.”

 

Of course, analysis of TV viewing is of tremendous importance to consumer brands and advertisers; if we’re watching less broadcast TV, then their ads aren’t being seen by as many potential purchasers. Sienne Veit, Social and Mobile Development Manager at leading retailer Marks and Spencer, added:

 

“The Orange data mirrors our own experience that more consumers are interacting with brands via mobile and tablets. Brands will miss out on mobile opportunities to connect with the consumer if they don’t adapt for mobile and tablets taking into account local nuances and influencing factors such as screen size for example.”

 

The research also revealed that tablet users were 50 per cent more likely to purchase online than mobile users, and that more than 60 per cent of tablet users have made at least one m-commerce transaction – compared to 47 per cent of mobile phone users.