Screen Jumping Study

A study of cross-media behaviors by Jumptap is providing some initial glimpses of how people multitask and move from one type of device/screen to another.  The study combines large sample analytics on online behaviors (from comScore) with intensive interviews and media use tracking of a sample of 10 "three-screen" users (PC, smartphone, tablet).

The comScore data provides a number of insights on overall multiscreen usage.

• Time spent online has almost doubled since 2010
• Roughly two-thirds of online adults are multi-platform 
• Women 25-49 are the demographic group most likely to be on mobile platforms
• People are beginning to tailor their online uses to individual devices (i.e., using specific devices at particular times, or for particular uses).

In particular, smartphones are used consistently throughout the day, PCs dominate during working hours, and tablets dominate evening and nighttime use.  Type of use also varies significantly. Smartphones account for more than have the time listening to music or radio streaming (77%), info on technology (64%), social media (58%), and weather info (55%). PCs get have the online time for a variety of information gathering (automotive, business/finance, general news, health, food).  No tablet usage topped half of the total time online, but that's due in part to its much lower current level of penetration.  The highest share of tablet usage are with games (34%), watching online video (20%) and lifestyle and shopping info.

Source - Screen Jumping Study,  Jumptap press release

Following A Multiscreen Olympics

Some Big Data metrics from Google illustrate the complementary nature of TV viewing and use of online and mobile devices.

The graph looks at the spikes in searches for Paul McCartney, who concluded the Opening Ceremony with a rendition of "Hey Jude."

"One of the significant things to note about the spikes Google saw in online searches for the former Beatle is their timing. Spikes were detected concurring with the performance by those searching in Europe. In the United States, where NBC delayed the ceremony spikes in searches for the former Fab Four member synced up with the East Coast and Pacific replay of the performance."

Google also reported that at times, searches from mobile devices outpaced those from laptops or desktops.   In Japan, 55% of searches were from mobile devices; Great Britain (46%), Australia (45%) and Korea (36%) were the other countries with high mobile shares.

 Meanwhile, a Pew study suggests that Americans are increasingly using "second screens" to supplement their TV viewing.  When it comes to the Olympics, some 80% of respondents indicated they had watched some of the Games on TV (23% watched live coverage), while 17% reported following the Games online, and 12% said they used social media to follow the Games.  Respondents also rated the quality of coverage from the various sources positively, and at about the same level.

Source -  Olympics-related search spikes reveal close tie between first, second screens, Broadcast Engineering.
Americans augment Olympics TV viewing with social networks, online video, finds Pew, Broadcast Engineering