Viewers Flocking to On-Demand Online Video

STOCKHOLM: Consumers are spending slightly less time watching scheduled broadcast TV and more time watching streamed on-demand video online, according to Ericsson ConsumerLab’s annual TV & Video Consumer Trend Report.

In 2010, 88 percent of respondents said they watched broadcast TV more than once a week, falling to 84 percent in the 2011 report. Respondents watching streamed on-demand TV shows more than once a week rose from 30 percent in 2010 to 33 percent for this year’s survey. Numbers also increased for streamed on-demand movies, from 23 percent in 2010 to 25 percent in 2011.

Anders Erlandsson, senior advisor at Ericsson ConsumerLab, said: "On-demand viewing is increasingly popular, while broadcast viewing has remained as the most common way for people to watch TV. People want both broadcast and on-demand viewing to be available. TV and video have not been negatively affected by the internet in the same way that print has; we just watch TV in many more ways than we did before."

The study also shows that social media usage has impacted the way we watch TV. More than 40 percent of the respondents reported using social media on various devices such as smartphones and tablets while watching TV.

"Our in-depth interviews—especially those in the U.S., which is a frontrunner in TV/video consumer trends—show how social media usage is impacting viewing," Erlandsson added. "The majority of families combined TV viewing with the use of Twitter, Facebook, texting, voice calls and forum discussions about what they watched. This is particularly the case when watching reality shows and sports. This communication adds another dimension to the TV experience, as consumers found an annoying reality show funnier when they were able to comment on social media about ‘terrible’ singers, ‘ugly’ clothing or when your favorite team scores a goal."

Data was collected in Australia, Austria, Brazil, China, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, the U.K., the U.S. and South Korea. In all, 22 qualitative and 13,000 quantitative interviews were conducted representing almost 400 million consumers.