Martech: Martech is Marketing Logo
  • Topics
    Transformation
    Operations
    Data
    Experience
    Performance
    Management
    Special Reports
    All Topics
  • Conference
  • Webinars
  • Intelligence Reports
  • White Papers
  • What is MarTech
    Mission
    Team
    Newsletter
    Search Engine Land
    Third Door Media

Processing...Please wait.

MarTech » Customer & Digital Experience » People Now Spend More Time With “Mobile” Than Print Mags, Newspapers Combined

People Now Spend More Time With “Mobile” Than Print Mags, Newspapers Combined

According to an eMarketer analysis of time spent with media, TV and mobile saw significant gains vs. 2010 — with conventional TV the winner and still champion. According to the data presented, the average US adult spends about 4 hours and 34 minutes per day watching TV. Multitasking is counted as time spent independently with […]

Greg Sterling on December 12, 2011 at 3:27 pm

According to an eMarketer analysis of time spent with media, TV and mobile saw significant gains vs. 2010 — with conventional TV the winner and still champion. According to the data presented, the average US adult spends about 4 hours and 34 minutes per day watching TV. Multitasking is counted as time spent independently with each medium.

(Here are some gratuitous but related, facts: Almost one in three Americans are technically obese, while one in 20 are clinically depressed according to the US Center for Disease Control. Excessive TV watching is partly a reaction to stress and/or depression and leads in part to obesity.)

Time spent with the internet was up almost 8 percentage points over last year. But time spent with mobile devices increased 30 percent. No doubt that’s partly a statement about the growth of smartphones. But here’s the headline: “US adults now spend more time with their mobile phones than with print magazines and newspapers combined, at 1 hour and 5 minutes vs. just 44 minutes,” according to eMarketer.

Comparing time spent with mobile to print is a bit of “apples to oranges,” because all time spent on mobile devices isn’t looking at media. There’s a much broader array of things that people do on smartphones (call, text, internet, apps/games, etc.). A somewhat better comparison would be time spent with comparable content on mobile devices vs. print. It’s also not clear how/whether tablets are factored in to this analysis; they don’t appear to be.

Data from multiple sources indicate that the majority of tablet owners spend more than an hour a day “consuming content” on their mostly iPads. According to survey data from Google-AdMob 43 percent of respondents reported using their tablets more than other devices/media:

Source: Google-AdMob (3/11), n=1,430

In addition, more recent research from Google says, “tablets are multi-tasking devices with at least 42 percent of activities occurring while doing another task or engaging with another entertainment medium” (often TV).

The “time spent” metric is instructive for marketers but, as I’ve suggested, a bit deceiving. We’re now firmly in a multitasking world where one must assume that other media and devices are being used and consumed simultaneously (i.e., smartphones, tablets). And that’s especially true in the case of TV. So while people spend the most time with TV, are they actually paying attention to the ads?

Advertising must now shift to reflect and take advantage of this real-time “cross-platform” reality.

Postscript: I was in contact with eMarketer and told that “mobile” does include tablets in this data.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.


New on MarTech

    Marriott launches its own media retail network

    Why marketers have a love-hate relationship with complexity

    If Harry Potter led marketing operations, where would his team sit?

    How a smart email strategy helped Apple Rose Beauty thrive during the pandemic

    Martech firms among 3rd parties scooping email addresses from websites prior to form submission

About The Author

Greg Sterling
Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land, a member of the programming team for SMX events and the VP, Market Insights at Uberall.

Related Topics

Customer & Digital ExperiencePerformance Marketing

Get the daily newsletter digital marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

June 7, 2022: Master Classes

September 28-29, 2022: Fall

Start Discovering Now: Spring

Learn More About Our MarTech Events

June 14-15, 2022: SMX Advanced (virtual)

November 14-15, 2022: SMX Next (virtual)

March 8-9, 2022: Master Classes (virtual)

Learn More About Our SMX Events

Webinars

Data-Driven Answers to Achieve Omnichannel Success

Is Your Marketing Stack Ready for Omnichannel CX?

Outrank in Organic Search with These 5 Core Tactics

See More Webinars

Intelligence Reports

Enterprise SEO Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Identity Resolution Platforms

Email Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Sales Enablement Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Digital Experience Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Call Analytics Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

See More Intelligence Reports

White Papers

Realising the power of virtual events for demand generation

The Progressive Marketer’s Ultimate Events Strategy 2022 Worksheet

CMO Guide: How to Plan Smart and Pivot Fast

The Retail Renaissance Report, USA Edition: 4 Keys to Predicting Online & In-Store Demand Across Global Markets

Thinking Bigger About Marketing Budgets

See More Whitepapers

Receive daily marketing news & analysis.

Processing...Please wait.

Topics

  • Transformation
  • Operations
  • Data
  • Experience
  • Performance
  • Management
  • All Topics
  • Home

Our Events

  • MarTech
  • Search Marketing Expo - SMX

About

  • What is MarTech
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS

© 2022 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.