News
Clare Hopping
17:25, 1 Aug 2013
Ofcom has conducted research that reveals 53 per cent of the UK use tablets or smartphones while watching TV
Ofcom has discovered more than half of the UK uses a smartphone or tablet while watching TV.
The regulator says 91 per cent of the nation watches TV every week - an increase of three per cent since 2008.
However, it's the addition of mobile devices that is changing the family TV experience. More than half of all adults in this country now own a smartphone - almost double the number in 2011. Tablet ownership has also increased rapidly, with 24 per cent owning slates. Two years ago, this number stood at 11 per cent.
25 per cent of the nation are 'media meshing' – watching TV and using a mobile device to tell the world about it. The majority of these people are talking or texting on their phones (16 percent and 17 percent respectively), while 11 percent are talking about what they're watching on social networks.
49 per cent of the UK's TV watchers are using their mobile devices to do something completely unrelated to what's on the telly. Ofcom coins this as 'media stacking' and the majority of these users are searching on the internet, social networking or shopping online.
James Thickett, Ofcom’s Director of Research, said, 'Our research shows that increasingly families are gathering in the living room to watch TV just as they were in the 1950s – but now delivered on bigger, wider and more sophisticated sets. Unlike the 1950s family, however, they are also doing their own thing. They are tweeting about a TV show, surfing the net or watching different content altogether on a tablet.
'Just a few years ago, we would be talking about last night’s TV at work or at school. Now, we’re having those conversations live while watching TV – using social media, text and instant messaging.'
In other news, the sun will go down at the end of today and rise again in the morning.
Tablets
Ofcom