Meet Europe`s media multi-taskers

Meet Europe’s media
multi-taskers
The rise of simultaneous TV and Internet consumption across Europe
Media Meshing: meet Europe’s
media multi-taskers
The rise of simultaneous TV and Internet consumption across Europe
Media Meshing, a new study by Microsoft® Advertising, has
delved deeper than ever-before into the habits of people who are
simultaneously watching TV and using the Internet – an activity that
has led to such people being described as media multi-taskers1
Surveying 1,050 adults across seven European
countries2, this investigation has built on the
work of the EIAA’s Mediascope research, which
since 2006 has quantified media multi-tasking
trends across Europe. Through this newly released
Microsoft Advertising investigation we have found
that usage of the Internet whilst also watching TV is
now very much a mainstream activity, with Media
Meshing finding that a significant 70% of Europeans
are doing so3. Indeed many are multi-tasking on a
daily basis:
Across the markets tracked, Denmark and the UK
emerge as those with the highest proportion of
multi-taskers with 77% of Internet users using
both media simultaneously once a week or more
often. They are closely followed by Germany (73%),
Belgium (71%) and Italy (69%). France (63%) and
Spain (56%) show the lowest rates.
56% multi-task several
times a week
40% multi-task most
days or evenings
Frequency of media multi-task activity
All references to media multi-taskers in this report use the following definition
for the term: all those who use/access the Internet whilst also watching TV
150 respondents in each of UK, FR, DE, ES, IT, DK, BE
3
At a frequency level of once every one to two weeks or more often
1
2
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66% multi-task once a week
Key talking points
All of the key take-outs below relate to TV and Internet media multitasking frequency of at least once every two weeks:
Media multi-tasking is mainstream.
Channel-surfing becoming web-surfing.
Two in three European Internet users are now
simultaneously using the Internet whilst watching
TV on at least one occasion per week. 40% do so
most days or evenings.
It’s long been accepted that if people don’t stay
tuned to the ads during TV commercial breaks
then they’re most likely to channel surf and switch
over. Our study data indeed confirms this, but
only fractionally behind that is a shift to using the
Internet — 39% say they change the channel when
TV commercials air, 37% say they use the Internet.
Media multi-tasking of TV and Internet
varies little by gender.
There is no substantial gender bias in TV and Internet
media multi-tasking with only a three percentage
point difference between men and women.
16-24s are more likely to be ‘every-day’
TV and Internet media multi-taskers.
With nine in ten of them doing so, 16-24s are
20% more likely to be TV and Internet media
multi-taskers.
Our media multi-taskers detail some interesting
similarities in their views of TV and Internet
advertising, with both offering a similar role in
people’s minds for broad awareness as well as for
interest, persuasion and product trial purposes.
Internet driving offline and online
purchases for media multi-taskers.
Day of week is a big differentiator for
media multi-tasking.
At the weekend, we see multi-tasking activity is twice
as high during the daytime (10:00hrs to 17:30hrs)
than it is during the working week – 47% vs. 23%.
Communication is the most popular
Internet activity when multi-tasking.
Complementary roles of TV and Internet
advertising.
One in three of our multi-taskers have made an
offline shop/retail purchase as a result of an Internet
ad – a lower proportion than TV. However, a
significant proportion of that is on par with the key
online purchase channels such as offline retailers’
own websites, or e-retail specialists such as Amazon.
Communication such as email or use of instant
messenger account for three of the top four
Internet activities done whilst media multi-tasking.
Here we do see gender differences play out, with
men content-led in their Internet usage, whilst
women are more focused on communication in its
various forms.
www.advertising.microsoft.com/europe
page 3
When are people media
multi-tasking?
Unsurprisingly weekday multi-tasking differs very much from
the same activity at the weekend. It is also worth looking more
deeply at dayparts within the day, where we see some interesting
differences emerge.
Weekdays
During the week multi-tasking is mainly a primetime activity. Looking at people who multi-task at
least once every two weeks we see that:
71% do so during prime
time between 17:30
and 21:00hrs
39% in the night-time
slot between 21:00 and
06:00hrs
And whilst daytime is lower, almost
one in four of this group multi-task
during this period (23%)
The more rushed and hectic morning
daypart (06:00 to 10:00hrs) sees the
incidence rate fall to just 10%
Multi-tasking is an area we expect to grow as
‘always-on’ terminals become more prevalent in
our households – either through laptops/netbooks
that don’t ever get turned off or handheld Internetenabled devices such as smartphones or portable
gaming/web browsing devices.
page 4
www.advertising.microsoft.com/europe
Gender differences aren’t significant, but due to a
greater proportion of women being at home (near
a TV) during the day, women are more likely to
multi-task during this daypart:
Morning
Male
11.8%
39% more likely for men
Female
7.2%
Daytime
21.7%
13% more likely for women
24.6%
Evening
72.1%
69.6%
Night-time
3.5% more
likely for men
(so effectively
flat)
43.7%
34.5%
27% more likely for men
In terms of age within gender we see that the following groups are the most likely to
multi-task:
Daytime
25-44
Evening
16-24
25-34
Night-time
16-34
Weekends
As stated, expectation would be that weekend
patterns of TV and Internet media multi-tasking are
very different to those seen during the week. Our
survey findings absolutely saw this played out, with
daytime weekend multi-tasking activity being much
higher than during the week.
•
47% of our regular media multi-taskers do so
during the day – more than double the rate we
see during the week
•
Less significantly, but still notable, is an 11%
lower rate during the evening slot of 17:30 to
21:00hrs
•
Night-time usage is pretty much level between
weekends and weekdays
•
From a gender perspective we see men are
more than twice as likely to multi-task during
the morning daypart, and 42% more likely
during the night-time daypart
www.advertising.microsoft.com/europe
page 5
What are people doing?
In terms of channel and message planning it helps us to know exactly
what people are doing online whilst they are also watching television.
communication (see chart below), with social media,
networking and instant messaging the third and
fourth most popular activities. General web surfing
comes second.
Email is the dominant activity (as it is overall for
all Internet activity) – 75% of all media multitaskers state email as an activity they undertake.
In fact, three of the top four activities relate to
75%
General web surfing
64%
49%
Access social network profile(s)/site(s) e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn
Instant messenger
39%
Read content I’m interested in e.g. sports,
entertainment, finance, music, cars etc.
37%
20%
34%
Read the news/current affairs e.g. an online
newspaper or other news site such as MSN news
34%
Research a product I’m currently thinking of buying
Watch other TV/Video content e.g. YouTube, MSN Video
Question: Which of the following do you do on
the Internet on the occasions you use it whilst also
watching TV?
Base: all those who media multi-task (use the
Internet at the same time as watching the television)
at least once every two weeks (n=735).
page 6
Email
www.advertising.microsoft.com/europe
E-Activities demanding high engagement are
still more commonplace than might be expected,
perhaps indicating how little attention the
television attracts during some media multi-tasking
occasions. In fifth and sixth place we see ‘reading
news’ and ’reading other content’.
Following that is ‘research a product I’m currently
thinking of buying’ with one in three people
identifying that as an online activity they
undertake whilst watching television. There is
clear scope for TV to influence here, with the
audio-visual strength of TV advertising being
closer to the point of purchase than it ever has
been in the days before round-the-clock Internet
connectivity in the home. There is certainly a
complementary relationship at play between the
two channels and it will be interesting to see how
the development of product placement during TV
programmes impacts and potentially strengthens
this relationship.
Some interesting gender differences also emerge,
notably for social networking (more likely amongst
women) and for reading ‘other content’, more likely
amongst men.
All
Men
Women
Difference
(men vs. women)
Email
75%
71%
79%
-11%
General web surfing
64%
67%
61%
+10%
Access social network profile(s)/site(s)
e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn
49%
41%
57%
-28%
Instant messenger
39%
39%
39%
-
Read content I’m interested in e.g. sports,
entertainment, finance, music , cars etc.
37%
47%
28%
+68%
Read the news/current affairs e.g. an online
newspaper or other news site such as MSN news
34%
40%
28%
+43%
Research a product I’m currently
thinking of buying
34%
22%
18%
+22%
Watch other TV/video content
e.g. YouTube, MSN Video
20%
37%
31%
+19%
Question: Which of the following do you do on the
on Internet on the occasions you use it whilst also
watching TV
Base: all media multi-taskers (use the Internet at the
same time as watching the television) at least once
every week or two (n=735)
www.advertising.microsoft.com/europe
page 7
How does TV advertising
influence audience behaviour?
Focusing more closely on advertising and the implications for
marketers, we were keen to explore the relationship between
Internet usage and TV commercials, rather than more general TV
viewing and simultaneous Internet usage.
For that reason we asked ‘What do you usually do
when TV ads/commercials come on during or after
a programme?’
The results:
39%
37%
34%
Chat to somebody else in the room
Use the internet
Leave the room temporarily
18%
Carry on watching
16%
Leave the room
9%
Other/something else
7%
Base: all respondents (n=1055)
It’s interesting to see that channel-surfing or
conversation are the most popular TV ad-break
distractions, followed closely by Internet usage.
Future research should follow-up on this and
concentrate specifically on what activities people
engage in online during TV ad breaks, and whether
TV commercials can influence or prompt this activity.
page 8
Switch to another channel
www.advertising.microsoft.com/europe
Do TV ads drive Internet research?
We also quantified the influence of TV ads on
online research. 51% of people have looked for
an ad (or its theme tune) online that they’ve
previously seen on TV – compared to 49% who
haven’t. And whilst it’s gender neutral, it certainly
isn’t age neutral with two-thirds (66%) of 16-24s
having done so, but declining by age group to
35% for 45-55 year-olds.
Significantly, 40% of people also say they expect to
be able to go online to watch a TV ad again if they
want to (with a similar gender and age pattern to
that detailed above).
The social/viral aspect of TV ads online
was also investigated. Almost one in five
people have previously sent a web-link of
a TV ad to somebody by email or other
method of social communication. Men
are 25% more likely to have done so
and again it’s the younger age groups
that exhibit a greater propensity to
share content virally.
www.advertising.microsoft.com/europe
page 9
Roles of TV and Internet advertising
Role of TV and Internet Ads
Broad coverage across the information and
persuasion spectrum for multi-taskers.
Q: To what extent do you agree with the
following statements?
Internet ads
Similar role for
TV & Internet
Areas more
traditionally
associated as
strengths of
TV ads
Similar and relatively
strong performance
for Internet ads
- giving info and
helping you decide
are the influencers
further down the
purchase funnel
71%
Tell you about a brand/product
you’ve not heard of before
75%
61%
Give you new info about a brand
/product you have heard of
62%
50%
Spark interest in a brand
58%
45%
Prompt you to talk about
with someone else
53%
45%
Persuade you to try a
brand/product
48%
41%
Make you re-evaluate a
brand/product
43%
42%
Help you decide which brands
are relevant to you
41%
33%
Make you like a brand
40%
44%
Gives you enough info to
make a purchase
37%
As illustrated in the chart above, we can see
that there are some interesting similarities and
complementary differences between the role of a
TV ad vs. an Internet ad for consumers.
Broader awareness: both fulfil a similar role for
telling a consumer about a product and brand as
well as giving further information about a product
they are already aware of.
page 10
TV ads
Sparking interest, persuasion and product trial:
the traditional strength for TV advertising is still
apparent here, but Internet ads also perform well
and are as likely to persuade someone to try a
brand or product.
Base: all TV + online multi-taskers (n=735)
Q: to what extent do you agree with the following statements?
(Based on IAB Thinkbox 2006 question framework)
Data illustrated represents net agree (strongly agree or agree)
Complementary responses to
TV and Internet advertising
In terms of response to ads, most people have either visited a brand
or product website to find out more or searched the Internet for
where to buy a brand or product.
Both responses indicate a similar performance
for TV and Internet, with around 50% of all TV
and online multi-taskers having used both for
further research.
Response to TV and Internet Ads
Advertising from TV and Internet prompt further
online research, with product and purchase
research being the most common responses. To
pursue this finding we asked:
Q: Have you ever responded to TV/Internet ads in
the following ways?
Internet ads
TV ads
Visited a brand/product website to find
out more
Searched the Internet for where to buy a
brand/product
Responses more traditionally
associated with TV ads
Looked in a (high street) shop for
brand/product
Remembered a brand/product when
considering buying
Talked to someone about a brand/product
Used a comparison/review website
Immediately searched the Internet for more
information
Searched the Internet for competitors
Bought a brand/product online
Looked at blogs or forums to discuss
0%
20%
40%
60%
www.advertising.microsoft.com/europe
page 11
The difference between the two ad channels is
a little more marked when it comes to driving a
response in the form of:
•
Having visited a (high street) shop (for the
brand or product advertised)
•
Having remembered (an advertised) brand or
product when considering purchasing
•
Having talked to someone else (about the
brand or product advertised)
Without trend data we cannot conclusively discuss
how this may have changed over time. However, if
we think of how Internet ads are increasingly able
(and brands willing) to incorporate social messaging
within the ads it is probably fair to say there has
been growth in the number of people having been
prompted to talk to someone else about brands/
products they’ve seen advertised online1.
For the more online specific
responses, such as using a
comparison/review website
or buying a brand/product
online, Internet ads clearly
drive a greater proportion of
such responses.
1
page 12
If we explored this further in a qualitative setting we could prompt to see
whether a person’s answer to this question includes their ‘online conversations’
e.g. via email, messenger or social media channels
Where are purchases being made?
We have a growing body of econometric modelling work that is
explaining how, when and where online is driving offline sales1.
This study looks at people’s own responses to where they feel ads
influence them in terms of offline and online purchases.
Purchase-driving effect of TV and Internet Ads
One in three say Internet ads have driven them to
make an offline purchase - on par with several key
online purchase channels.
Q: Have you purchased from each of the following
places as a result of seeing a TV/Internet ad?
Internet ads
34%
67%
33%
34%
33%
28%
31%
TV ads
Shop/retailer - i.e. a real-life store on
the high street (not an online shop)
Website of a well-known shop - a shop
that also has stores on the high street
Online shop - e.g. buying
Nike t-shirt from Amazon
eBay/other auction site
28%
35%
25%
32%
23%
Base: all TV + online mutli-taskers (n=735)
Q: Have you purchased from each of the following
places as a result of seeing a TV/Internet ad?
Data illustrated represents those answering YES
1
2
Via an online shop you were directed
to via a price comparison website
Direct from a manufacturer’s own website - e.g.
buying a Dell laptop directly from the Dell website
One in three of our multi-taskers have made
an offline shop/retail purchase as a result of an
Internet ad – a lower proportion than TV2, but a
significant proportion that is on par with the key
online purchase channels such as offline retailers’
own websites, or e-retail specialists such as Amazon.
Kellogg’s wakes up to online success with Microsoft.
http://advertising.microsoft.com/europe/Research/research-library?Adv_CaseStudyID=1642
Some of this difference will be actual, and part of it will also be skewed by our own predisposition to immediately
think of online purchases when asked about Internet ads – an understandable bias but worth bearing in mind in a
claimed-response survey approach.
page 13
Driving awareness
We mentioned above how econometric modelling is beginning
to make its presence felt in terms of explaining how well online
advertising can influence offline sales – previously long-held
perceptions had many believe online couldn’t perform in this way.
Another preconception we see is the branding/
awareness capabilities of online, with many still
preferring to think of online only as a response
channel, with TV, Press and Outdoor being the
big awareness drivers. In today’s world, the old
assumptions are no longer holding true, not least
for the rise in media multi-tasking. From this study
of European consumer perceptions we see that
when asked to think about which types of ad do
the best job of making us aware of brands/products
we weren’t previously aware of, Internet ads are
selected by one in two media-multi-taskers (51%).
Only TV posts a higher level of agreement (72%).
Magazine ads (30%) rank third (after Internet ads),
followed by Outdoor ads/posters (27%), Newspaper
ads (23%) and Radio ads (19%).
The impact for marketers
So what does all this mean for those working in the various sectors
of the Marketing Communications industry?
We have seen from this study that using the
Internet at the same time as watching the television
is now a mainstream activity across Europe, with
70% of us doing so at least once every two weeks,
and 40% of us doing so most days or evenings.
TV and online multi-tasking is mainstream, and
frequency will only grow further as netbook and
laptop penetration grows, and when there is
broader rollout of web and widget-enabled TVs at
household level.
This impacts traditional assumptions about how
we consume content from (and communicate via)
these two channels and the attention paid to each
when doing so. It also impacts how commercial
messaging works across the two channels. In
this regard, even at its simplest level, such broad
page 14
adoption of multi-tasking means there is scope
for TV and Internet advertising to be much more
closely integrated. From more broad-spread
inclusion of URLs in TV ads, to more integrated
story-telling across the two platforms, a cohesive
approach will enable both immediate and timeshifted ‘linking’ of the brand and product message
and will create a deeper user experience. Naturally
this means new questions arise, such as “what
types of prompt should TV ads make when the
aim is to invite target consumers to continue the
conversation online?” If our primary activity online
when watching TV is communication, as revealed
in this study, then we have a strong guide in terms
of what may work – i.e. email, instant messaging or
social media channels.
www.advertising.microsoft.com/europe
From a platform programming perspective,
MTV’s view on this is worth noting. Dan Hart,
MTV Digital’s Senior VP thinks that ‘TV 2.0’ needs
to address the interaction between viewers and
programmes with something he calls “The Layer
Cake”. That involves balancing ideas like instant
messaging with live TV, user-generated videophone programming, and on-air Twitter-esque
video blogging1.
competitions, exclusive behind-the-scenes footage
and interviews with the stars for deeper interaction.
Films such as The Watchmen, The Dark Knight and
Cloverfield are all great examples of how this has
already been delivered.
Microsoft Advertising has seen great success in
such an initiative. In partnership with the UK TV
broadcaster E4, we deployed a messenger bot
in Windows Live Messenger to allow viewers of
the E4 youth drama, Skins, to interact with the
bot and view exclusive additional content, whilst
simultaneously watching the show live on TV. The
multi-tasking solution was a huge success with
usage almost three times greater than the intended
target and double the anticipated conversions for
moving viewers on to the E4.com/Skins website.
•
Online catch-up services: rapid take-up of PCbased viewing of TV content – e.g. catch-up
services from traditional local media companies
such as the BBC in the UK, and international
media businesses such as MTV
•
Real-time online viewing: real-time viewing
such as the recent England football game
that was a web-only event and increasing
penetration of Internet-enabled TVs
•
Video on-demand: e.g. movies from services
such as Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace, Amazon
Video on Demand and local market providers
such as Sky in the UK – delivered in these
examples via games console, web, or online
and TV set-top box
Another example comes from our recent
Showtime project [http://advertising.microsoft.
com/europe/20th-century-fox-study] – a
Microsoft Advertising partnership research study
in association with 20th Century Fox and MESH
Planning. This has highlighted the value of digital
activity in expanding the experience of filmlaunch promotion, with clear evidence emerging
of film-goers’ tendency to move from ‘traditional’
touchpoints to further explore film-trailers, reviews
and interviews online. This opens up marketing
opportunities , enabling studios to provide
more personalised features such as wallpapers,
1
We are very much in an evolving space here. TV
and online will continue to converge in many
regards. We have several factors driving this
convergence, including, but not limited to:
Inevitably our marketing communications will
have to adapt as this convergence means our
consumption behaviours change. How can we
capitalise on this perception and really drive further
value? Our understanding of who is media multitasking, where, when and why is one route to
addressing and helping answer this question.
http://www.psfk.com/2008/11/can-tv-20-bring-consumers-back-to-advertisers.html
page 15
You dream it. We deliver it.
© 2009 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved. Microsoft is a trademark
of the Microsoft group of companies.
www.advertising.microsoft.com/europe