In the age of web, TV still top screen

Study finds televisions are preferred medium for viewing

Canadians may be embracing multiple screens to access the Internet, but under the right circumstances, TV will still dominate, says a new report.

When services such as Netflix are available on multiple screens, viewers tend to choose TV, even though computers are more popular for viewing online video, found Media Technology Monitor, a product of CBC/Radio-Canada research. That’s because most online services are not designed with the TV set in mind.

“Vimeo and Google and broadcasters don’t quite yet have very easy, usable multi-platform video services, whereas Netflix is designed from the start to be used either on a smartphone, a tablet, a computer, or a TV set,” said Mark Allen, director of research and analysis at CBC/Radio-Canada.

“I conclude from this that when video providers have a seamless, multi-screen offering that the TV set will still be king.”

With 52 per cent of Canadians owning two devices to get online,

“Things like watching video . . . these are nice things to be able to do on your smartphone, but they’re not the primary reason people have a smartphone” MARK ALLEN CBC/RADIO-CANADA

the telephone survey of 12,040 Canadians was undertaken to determine the preferred screen for consuming media.

The industry has also noted the growth of “four-screen users” — owners of all four devices, about three per cent of Internet users. These users are more likely to be: males, 18 to 49 years old, university educated and in households with children or teenagers. Ten per cent of them have a household income over $150,000 The four-screen users spend more time online — 27.1 hours weekly vs. 16.5 for typical users — and less using conventional TV and radio. “TV and radio broadcasters will need to recognize that four-screen Canadians are a small group of people right now, but they’re still con- suming quite a bit of media, just they’re moving it online, watching a little less TV on the TV set, but spending a tremendous amount of those hours watching and listening online,” said Allen. “It’s a matter of shifting their behaviour to a platform that’s more preferable.” The report also found that smartphones were primarily used for social networking. “Things like watching video, or listening to audio, or watching online news, these are nice things to be able to do on your smartphone, but they’re not the primary reason people have a smartphone,” said Allen.