On April 4, at Simulmedia in New York, PromaxBDA’s latest Emerging Media Workshop (EMW) informed and enlightened a packed house with speakers from Guide, X1 and Frank N. Magid Associates. Following each presentation, members could use their mobile devices to ask questions, and many took advantage.

Below, we present the second part of the questions from the Frank N. Magid Associates presentation, and the company’s corresponding answers. This is the last installment in our series of members’ questions from EMW.

Frank N. Magid Associates is a research-based strategic consulting firm that helps clients become profitable by solving problems and helping them take advantage of opportunities.

Questions for Frank N. Magid Associates

Answered by: Natalie Clayton, Director of Strategy Consulting

Is there more growth of smart TVs in certain regions within the US?

We see above-average adoption of smart TVs in the South. The Northeast and West are average, while the Midwest demonstrates below-average adoption rates.

Have you done any research about connected TV behaviors outside of the US?

We haven’t done much research about international connected TV behaviors. We do know that the US lags behind in smart TV adoption compared to other countries, especially Japan, China and Western Europe, which are seeing the highest rates of smart TV adoption.

Based on your data about the popularity of mobile viewing and TV Everywhere, does traditional TV appointment viewing stand a chance in the future?

Big, hard question! Some perspective to scratch the surface:

TV viewing on mobile devices is still very small relative to live TV (i.e. traditional TV appointment) viewing – about 140 hours/month spent viewing live TV vs. 5 hours/month on mobile video. However, for the first time, we’re seeing a decline in time spent viewing live TV, while viewing across digital platforms is increasing and will continue to do so. In addition, the demographic story behind TV viewing behaviors indicates that traditional TV viewing will be challenged in the future:

  • -12-24 year olds consider their laptop, not TV, their primary entertainment platform.

  • -20% of 12-24 year olds watch an hour or less of live TV daily – less viewing than any other age group.

  • -18-24 year olds are the most likely to cut the cord, and to never subscribe to pay TV service in the first place.

  • -18-24 year olds are the heaviest online/mobile video consumers.

Thus, it will take a long time to start to see a major shift in behavior, though it’s already starting to happen slowly, and will be more pronounced as younger age groups get older.

Can you address the popularity of participating in live events on TV through social media and how that squares with time shifted or binge viewing?

First of all, participating in live events on TV via social media is not hugely popular. 20% of social media users (about 16% of Internet users) have ever posted about a TV show they’re watching, 12% have looked for Tweets about the show they’re watching, and 11% have ever used a social TV app (GetGlue, Viggle, etc.). That being said, social TV is a good opportunity to engage teens, who are more likely to participate in social TV related activities, and the least likely to be viewing live TV/most likely to be time-shifting. However, we don’t think an increase in live viewing driven by social TV will be enough to significantly offset the increase in time shifted/binge viewing in the long term.

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