Report: Multi-Screen Users Are Avoiding TV Ads

BOSTON: According to new research from Strategy Analytics, consumers who use personal devices such as tablets and smartphones while watching TV are ignoring commercials almost completely.

The report, Multi-Screen User Behaviors in the Home, finds that high-impact scenes on television divert user attention away from their personal devices. Television advertising, however, diverts attention toward them. TV ad breaks were also found to have an impact on casual games played on personal devices. Respondents noted that they preferred games that didn’t take long to complete or that are not time-dependent, so they could fit the game activity into the ad breaks.

“Simultaneous use of several screens is a behavior that is being readily adopted and has quickly become the main way that early adopters choose to experience watching TV,” said Caroline Park, senior analyst and the report’s author. “Multi-screen users very rarely concentrate solely on a television show in its entirety, and while this presents challenges to the TV industry, it also offers new opportunities for viewer engagement.”

“Understanding when and how ‘focus shifts’ between the TV and personal devices occur is key to delivering a superior multi-screen user experience, as well as providing an opportunity to retain the attention of viewers on advertising,” concluded Park.