Australia swaps TV for smart device
24 May 2015 by News Desk
Australia is following a global trend by not watching so much TV. Aussies’ increasing love affair with new mobile technology has led to a sharp fall in the use of traditional TV sets.
TV is the only category to see uniform, double-digit usage declines across different types of media worldwide among viewers of all ages. It is rapidly being replaced as consumers turn to a laptops, desktops, tablets and smartphones to view video content.
According to a new industry report from Accenture, viewership of movies and television on a TV screen has fallen by 13% globally over the past year and by 11% in the US. Sports viewership on TV screens fell by 10% globally and by 9% in the US.
Nearly all age brackets reported double-digit declines in TV viewing globally, with 14- to 17-year-olds abandoning the TV screen at the rate of 33 percent for movies and television shows and 26 percent for sporting events. This decline continues for 18- to 34-year-olds at 14 percent for movies and television shows and 12 percent for sporting events, and for 35- to 54-year-olds, at 11 and nine percent, respectively. It does, however, flatten among the 55 and older crowd, at six percent and one percent respectively.
More than a third (37%) of consumers own a combination of smartphones, laptops/desktops and tablets. Among those who plan to buy a TV, 61% expect to buy a connected TV, and 25% are planning to buy a 4K TV, an increase of seven percent over last year.
Viewing is happening simultaneously across multiple devices, with 87% of consumers using more than one device at a time. Globally, the smartphone is the most frequent companion device scoring 57% overall. This trend is particularly strong for millennials, with 74% of 14- to17-year-olds using a combination of TV/smartphones during viewing. This is not the case in North America, where a laptop/computer was used more frequently for simultaneous viewing (59% vs 42% for smartphones).
