Nielsen has just released a new study documenting Americans’ simultaneous consumption of old and new media.
As reported at nielsenwire, 70% of tablet users and 64% of smartphone users use their devices at least several times a week while watching television. A large number (42% and 40% respectively) do it everyday.
The majority of people use their smarthphone or tablet to check their email, but large numbers also use them to kill time during commercial breaks.
The fact that people read their emails while watching television shouldn’t come as a surprise. This is just the latest in a long series of studies that confirm that media consumption is not a zero-sum game.
New-media growth does not have to come from cannibalizing old media. In fact, some studies have shown that new-media can drive increased interest in traditional media.
A 2009 Radio Insights post highlighted an earlier Nielsen study showing that new-media does not take away from traditional media.
Nielsen’s Susan Whiting noted that:
Another misconception among some in the industry is that media consumption is a zero-sum game--with television the potential loser. Yet recent research...confirms what we at Nielsen continue to find: that people keep adding more media to their lives without abandoning their TVs.
This was before the release of the iPad and when feature phones out-numbered smartphones. Now two years later Nielsen finds little has changed. New-media consumption continues to grow while people continue to consume traditional media.
So is that true with radio? Are people using their smartphones and tablets while listening to radio?
It’s a good question, but one that remains unanswered. In a 2009 post we lamented the fact that no similar research had been done looking at radio.
In 2010 we pointed out that while Nielsen continues to fund studies demonstrating the continued strength of television, Arbitron, which makes nearly all its revenue from radio, had yet to conduct similar research for radio.
Arbitron still hasn’t shown any interest in studying the relationship between radio and new media consumption.
The company spent its time on this year’s Radio Show main stage telling us such things as there’s been tremendous growth in car GPS units, and that drivers would love a system that helped them recover their stolen car. Wow.
Now that’s the kind of information every radio station can benefit from.