US Survey: 38% use phones during ad breaks

A new US survey has found that over one half of all cell phone owners use their phones while watching television, predominantly to keep themselves occupied during commercial breaks, talk to other people watching the same show, verify whether what they hear on TV is true or not, and to log on to sites to see what other people are saying about a show.

The study from the Pew Center for Internet and American Life Project involved 2,254 adults, age 18 and older.

It found:

1. 38% of cell owners used their phone to keep themselves occupied during commercials or breaks in something they were watching.
2. 23% used their phone to exchange text messages with someone else who was watching the same program in a different location.
3. 22% used their phone to check whether something they heard on television was true.
4. 20% used their phone to visit a website that was mentioned on television.
5. 11% used their phone to see what other people were saying online about a program they were watching, and 11% posted their own comments online about a program they were watching using their mobile phone.
6. 6% used their phone to vote for a reality show contestant.

52% of all cell owners are “connected viewers”—meaning they use their phones while watching television for at least one of these reasons.

With Nine and TEN about to launch new “second screen” platforms this info is mostly encouraging news.

But the ad switch-off is a big problem.