Despite the proliferation of computers and iPods, consumers overwhelmingly prefer to watch video on traditional TV sets, and they have a low tolerance for ads on devices other than the boob tube, according to a survey commissioned by the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau in the USA.
Despite the proliferation of computers and iPods, consumers overwhelmingly prefer to watch video on traditional TV sets, and they have a low tolerance for ads on devices other than the boob tube, according to a survey commissioned by the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau in the USA.
The CAB’s three-month Which Screen Landscape Study set out to determine if screens are interchangeable in the eyes of consumers; how and when video devices are used; where TV fits in a multidevice home; and how viewers tolerate ads on different platforms.
Ultimately, the survey — conducted by Frank N. Magid Associates — found that “television is the preferred screen on which to watch video,” with computers the second-most-used screen for such content.
“We heard no one say, ‘Oh, I’d just as soon watch on my iPod as my 42-inch home theater,'” CAB CEO Sean Cunningham said.
The CAB commissioned the survey because advertisers and agencies have repeatedly been asking how the public is viewing content given its availability on such platforms as cellular phones, PCs, mobile-video players, iPods and Sony PlayStation PSPs.
“To me, the most important thing to understand is: Are all screens created equal with respect to consumer attention and advertising?” Cunningham said. The study’s answer: a “resounding no,” he added.
The survey — the findings from which were released just days after ESPN pulled the plug on cell-phone venture Mobile ESPN — indicated that while about one-half of its respondents considered computers a “must-have” item, only 21% said watching video on the machine was a primary function. In fact, watching video — and short clips, not longer-form content, at that — on the PC ranked seventh out of nine choices.
Respondents also had much more limited duration receptivity to ads on mobile devices than on TV. Users were willing to watch an ad with a maximum length of nine seconds on cell phones, 13 second on mobile devices, 18 seconds for computers and 42 seconds on TV.
The survey also shot down some of the hype about the prevalence of mobile-video-device ownership: Among respondents, 54% had only a TV and computer, with no mobile screens; 30% had a TV and computer, plus one extra screen, like an iPod or cell phone; 10% had a TV, computer and two extra screens; and only 6% had a TV, computer and three extra screens.
The CAB previewed the study with a few agencies, and it plans many more detailed presentations in October.
