Report: Most TV Users Aren’t Multitasking with Other Media

NEW YORK: New Knowledge Networks analysis shows that for three out of every ten minutes consumers spend with television, they are also engaging with other media, meaning that TV is a "solo medium" 70 percent of the time.

For the Internet, however, two out of every three minutes are spent with multiple media, more than double the proportion for TV. Overall, 20 percent of all minutes spent with the five media measured—TV, Internet, radio, magazines and newspapers—are shared with one or more other media.

“If we assume that every medium you add to the mix is likely to diminish attention to advertising, then television holds a unique advantage over the Internet when it comes to engagement,” said Robert DeFelice, the VP of client service at Knowledge Networks and director of the MultiMedia Mentor research program. “But this also means that the Internet presents twice as many opportunities for reinforcing messages in other media—if one has a clear sense of where and when target audiences might be likely to combine media use.”

Knowledge Networks surveyed consumers 13 to 64, and found a heavy increase of simultaneous media use among the 18-to-34 group.