While most experts point to immersive television as the future of the sports viewing, consumers are edging toward the experience slowly. Right now, consumers are mostly multitasking on smartphones and tablets when they sit in front of the television, according to a recent report from The Nielsen Company.
Nielsen found that 40 percent of tablet and smartphone owners in the United States watch television and use smartphones or tablet devices at the same time on a daily basis.
Checking sports scores ranked higher than checking television listings, couponing or looking up product information with 30 percent of all respondents, 44 percent of males and 17 percent of females saying that’s what they did with their smart phones and tablets when watching television.
Email was the top activity that people engaged in with 60 percent of respondents saying that’s what they did when they used their smartphones or tablets in front of the television.
Sports programmers take note, ZDNet says
According to a ZDNet report, the Nielsen data has a good takeaway for television programmers. ZDNet said the Nielsen data indicates that smartphones and tablets are not much of a threat to television, but it would be a good idea for programmers to continue to experiment with ways to reach the smartphone and tablet audiences, and use the medium to their advantage.
Consumer predicts cable company trouble
A comment by Tmc8tmc on The Nielsen Company’s website predicted a seismic shift:
You’ll find more consumers actually watching tv on the devices themselves through streaming (wifi, not the price gouged so-called unlimited data plans). Cable companies are in trouble.. Their business model will erode starting in 2012 to serious subscription loss by 2015.
Account for mobile, marketing services company says
One spin on the Nielsen data came from integrated content marketing services company Brafton, Inc., which said marketers of all kinds need to pay attention to tablets and smartphones replacing laptops as a primary computing device. It said location-based marketing, which falls squarely in the sweet spot of sports social media, will rise as people rely more heavily on smartphones and tablets for access to the digital domain.
Here is what Brafton, Inc. said:
The survey results demonstrate that web marketers must ensure their plans account for the growing use of mobile devices. Search marketing campaigns typically include aggressive keyword strategies, and are also tailored to the search algorithms. However, mobile operating systems come with specialized search applications that field searches differently, factoring location into results. SEO strategies must adjust, especially in consumer-facing businesses, to include geographical elements that may drive mobile search traffic
For marketers, keyword strategies must adjust to tailor to on-the-go consumers. While the desktop PC is still the primary access point for the Internet, Brafton reported last month that experts expect this to change by 2015, when the mobile web is primed to reign supreme.
More Nielsen numbers
eReader owners were far less prone to double teaming data and entertainment than smartphone and tablet owners. Just 14 percent reported using their eReader while watching television.
Few consumers are totally abstinent from multitasking. Only 12 percent of tablet owners and 13 percent of smartphone owners say they have never used those devices while watching TV.
