Gareth's post about MP3s and the peak attention thing reminded me of these three sobering stats (from here) concerning media multitasking (or should I say continuous partial attention):
- 36% of UK broadband users (aged 16-55) state they have both the TV and Internet on in the same room every day. On weekdays the time when TV and internet multi-tasking is most likely to happen is around 8pm in the evening. TNS/YouTube Media & Audience Study (broadband users aged 16-55), December 2008
- Over 25% of internet users surveyed in the UK, FR, DE, IT, US, and Japan in October 2008 said they go onto the internet at the same time as watching TV "most of the time".Ofcom, November 2008
- People aged 12-24 are notching up 23 cumulative hours a day, engaged in up to five activities simultaneously.NMA, April 2009
Simultaneous media use is not a new story. But a number of studies have shown that it is a relatively (and perhaps unsurprisingly) widespread phenomenon that is becoming more prevalent, and that some media are more prone to be consumed concurrently with other media than others. I don't know about you but if I sit and watch telly, I am often online (or doing something else) at the same time. Seems I'm not the only one. I'm not picking on TV here, but I guess it bothers me slightly that the subject isn't talked about more. It's surely a quite fundamental behavioural change in how we consume media (and advertising). The way in which billions of pounds of media are planned and bought relies on good old reach and frequency metrics that are based on opportunities to see. But if that opportunity is much less of an opportunity (or at least a different type of opportunity) than it once was, perhaps we ought to take account of that. Reach is one thing. Attention is another. Anyone else?
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