Mobile and TV:
Between the Screens
Facebook IQ analyzed Facebook data and conducted an eye-tracking study to understand how and why TV viewers use smartphones. Here’s what we learned about the state of multiscreening.
CONTENTS
Mobile and TV are an increasingly irresistible combination.
An in-home eye-tracking study Facebook IQ commissioned in the US revealed that 94% of participants kept a smartphone on hand while watching TV, making mobile nearly as common a TV companion as a remote control. The results also showed that viewers focused on the TV screen just 53% of the time, and one of the top reasons they looked away was to use their smartphones.
Facebook data suggests that multiscreening often occurs during TV ad breaks. When we analyzed the Facebook data of 1 million people in the US who indicated on Facebook they were viewing the premiere of a popular cable TV drama, we saw that during ad breaks their usage of the platform sometimes spiked by more than 3x.1
Explore our findings about why and how people use smartphones to enhance their TV viewing experience, and learn how you can apply them to your cross-platform strategy.
Shifting Share, shifting expectations
Any discussion of multiscreening must start with noting a larger trend: people in the US are watching less live TV and spending more time on mobile than in the past.2 This is especially true for younger generations. According to a recent US comScore report, Millennials’ mobile consumption has now eclipsed their live TV consumption.3
US Millennials now spend more time on mobile than on live TV3
In Q4 2016, people in the US ages 18–34 spent
19.1B
hours watching live TV
21.1B
hours on mobile
Facebook data reflects this change: the average age of people in the US on Facebook who are Light TV Viewers4 is 27, and the average age of people in the US on Facebook who are Heavy TV Viewers5 is 48.6
On Facebook, Light TV Viewers tend to be younger than Heavy TV Viewers6
Average age of US TV Viewers on Facebook
Light TV Viewers:27 years old
Heavy TV Viewers:48 years old
And as younger people spend more time on mobile and grow accustomed to a different kind of video viewing experience, their perceptions of TV are also changing. For instance, a survey Facebook IQ commissioned of people in the US and Canada revealed that Millennials are 34% less likely than Boomers to perceive traditional TV as an affordable option.7
“
“Traditional TV is too expensive. I already pay for mobile data and WiFi and it’s easy to access videos on Facebook.”
Woman
Age 25, Canada7
Our modern reliance on mobile has also given rise to a whole new level of multitasking. From watching the news on the train to answering emails on the treadmill, people are dividing their attention more than ever.
TV time is no exception. Though people we surveyed told us they watch TV primarily to relax7, we saw that those in our eye-tracking study weren’t just lounging in front of the set. As we’ll explain in more detail, they packed their TV sessions with other, often smartphone-related, activities.
Multiscreening has gone mainstream
To get an accurate look at what TV viewing looks like these days, Facebook IQ commissioned an eye-tracking study. We asked people in four US cities to take home a pair of eye-tracking glasses on a weeknight and wear them as they went about their typical evening routines. Then, we looked at the data for 100 participants who chose to watch TV.
A participant in our eye-tracking study uses a smartphone while watching TV on a typical weeknight. The red dot indicates where her eyes were focused.
We saw that on average, when participants were watching TV their eyes left the screen 47% of the time. Household chores, such as folding laundry or cooking dinner, were what drew their attention away most often, followed by smartphones and other devices, such as laptops.
To zero in on where viewers’ attention went during commercial breaks, we analyzed a subset of 58 participants who viewed TV content containing ads. We found that on average, this group disengaged during a third of the commercial breaks, usually about 2.5 seconds into the first ad. And three-quarters of the time, people who disengaged from the TV ad content turned to their smartphones.
This aligns with the results of our Facebook data analysis. When we looked at Facebook usage among 1 million people in the US who indicated via their status that they were watching the season premiere of a popular cable TV show, we saw that Facebook activity went up during commercial breaks.1
People turn to Facebook during TV ad breaks8
Facebook activity of 1 million people in the US who indicated they were watching the season premiere of a popular cable TV show
Because it is possible that the 1 million people we studied might simply be more active on the platform than the average user — after all, they had used Facebook to indicate they were watching the show — we also looked at the Facebook activity of 537 people in the US who told us via a survey that they had watched the premiere. We found that this group’s use of Facebook also increased during every commercial break. When we looked at the Facebook activity of people surveyed who said they did not watch the show, we found no discernible difference between their Facebook activity during the show and during commercial breaks.9
What drives this dual-device behavior? According to a survey of our eye-tracking participants, multiscreening is primarily motivated by a desire to stay connected with friends, followed by a desire to beat boredom.
Mobile ads boost TV ad effectiveness
We still have a lot to learn about multiscreening, such as the exact impact of divided attention on TV ad effectiveness. Our research shows that even a few seconds of a mobile video ad can be influential, and this might be true for TV ads as well.
What we already know, however, is that TV and mobile video ads are compatible when used asynchronously. A neuromarketing study we commissioned showed that when people first saw an ad on mobile and later saw it again on TV, they experienced higher levels of emotional intensity and memory encoding than when they saw the ad on TV alone.10 In other words, mobile acts as an excellent prime.
Multiscreening is driven by a desire for connection11
Most important reasons people surveyed in the US use a smartphone while watching TV:
70% to stay connected with friends
51% to beat boredom
44% to take a break
40% to avoid missing out on anything
What it means for marketers
Reach people where they spend their time:
Reports show that people in the US are watching less traditional TV and spending more time on mobile.2 Consider launching targeted mobile video ads on Facebook and Instagram to both help reinforce your TV messaging and extend your reach.
Optimize your TV ad audio:
Our analysis of Facebook data showed that TV viewers often use Facebook during TV commercial breaks. But even when people aren’t looking at your TV ads, they can still hear them. Ensure your TV ads break through by making the audio engaging and memorable.
Source unless otherwise specified: “TV Watching in the Digital Age: Consumer Attention and Engagement” by Tobii Pro Insight (Facebook-commissioned study of 100 people ages 18–50 in the US), Mar 2017.