In a tweet, NowThis (@nowthisnews) has messaged “You’re wasting a significant chunk of your life deciding what to watch on TV.” This is followed by “You’ll Lose 474 Days Just Looking For Something To Watch”, and “That’s 1.3 years of your life you’ll waste browsing!”
The tweet is based on survey results published by Ericsson ConsumerLab, which focuses on Ericsson products and social media and technology in general. The subdivision of Ericsson has been studying consumers since 1995, across 80 countries. Trends such as urban conditions, cultures and living conditions are analyzed.
The new findings, about television watching and channel selection, come from a poll of people aged 16-69, who have broadband at home who watch any type of television (or video) at least weekly anywhere in the U.S. This pulls down the generalization of the results a little, by being country specific and focusing on homes that are, to a degree, a little tech savvy. Nevertheless, the the findings suggest that the television retains a dominant place in homes.
How content is delivered, however, is changing. The survey found that since 2012, the typical consumer has increased their viewing on mobile devices by four hours a week, while, at the same time, fixed screen viewing has declined by 2.5 hours a week. For those good at maths, this means people are actually spending 1.5 hours more watching content, albeit through a different medium.
Within this there is a demographic difference for those aged 16-34 spend around 2.5 hours more each week watching streamed on-demand services, compared to 35-69 year olds.
With the figures relating to viewer indecisiveness, 44 percent of broadcast TV viewers in the U.S. indicated they cannot find anything to watch on television at least once every day, and spend considerable time searching around for suitable content. With this a typical person occupies 23 minutes every day trying to find something to watch on broadcast television. This equates to 1.3 years of a person’s life swapping channels and navigating the content guide.
There are other trends from the survey, and it makes of interesting reading (or viewing, depending on the platform…)
