Most Australians in the 18-49 age demographic now like to browse the internet while watching TV, Roy Morgan Research data shows.Among Australians aged 18-49, 51% now agree that they like to go online while watching TV – known as ‘multi-screening’ – up from 36% three years ago.
Roy Morgan found 65% within the 18-24 age bracket, 56% aged 25-34, and 41% aged 35-49 like to go online while watching TV.
By contrast, in 2011 14-17 year-olds were the only age bracket in which the majority of respondents enjoyed multi-screening (53%).
Among older Australians multi-screening has also recorded rises, however remains comparatively low, with 20% of those aged 50-64 and 6% of those aged 65 or over multi-screening, totalling 14% of all Australians 50-plus.
Overall, 36% of Australians 14-plus now multi-screen, up from 27% in the year to June 2011.
Roy Morgan further found across all age groups, multi-screeners are actually more likely than average to find TV advertising interesting, stating it gives them something to talk about.
“It is a milestone in our changing media consumption habits that most Australians in the core television ratings demographic of ages 18 to 49 now say they like to browse the internet while watching TV,” commented Tim Martin, Roy Morgan Research general manager – media.
“A fair assumption might be that people with a second screen in front of them are less engaged with the TV, especially during ad breaks, but our research suggests that people who browse the net while watching TV are actually more likely than others to find TV advertising interesting.”
