online statistics – Josyan McGregor

What are 31% of people doing exactly at the same time? They are watching TV and web surfing!

Nearly 31% of people who went online at home in October were also watching television simultaneously, demonstrating that web surfing and TV watching are complementary behaviors, according to research from The Nielsen Company’s new TV/Internet Convergence Panel.

I’m so guilty of this very behavior and I find myself doing it more and more.

This interesting fact leads me to ponder the following: If watching TV and surfing the web are done at the same time – what portion of that attention is on the actual TV versus on the web? I’m betting that the moment a traditional TV ad comes on; the attention immediately shifts to the computer.

I’m also in agreement that the Internet is an effective complement to the traditional TV viewing experience. It makes sense, if you are watching something on Discovery and a subtopic peaks your interest, the natural thing to do is look it up on the web.

Here are a few more stats:

Roughly 50% of the Convergence Panel panelists had viewed some streaming content online. The demographics streaming the most included female teens (82%), male teens (64%), men age 18-34 (57%) and men age 35-54 (55%).
Nearly 60% of panelists and more than 80% of people who watched TV and used the internet had simultaneous sessions – watching TV and being online at the same minute. This group tends to be very heavy users of both TV and internet.
Teens are the most likely demographic to have simultaneous TV/internet usage, but Adults 35-54 have the most simultaneous usage minutes.
About 4% of total television viewing occurs when consumers are also using the internet.

If this wasn’t a wake up call for Marketers I don’t know what is!

Things to keep in mind:

TV ad >
Sets up the interest and the need for more information
Leads only the interested individuals directly to your site

Website >
Builds meaningful conversations
Nurtures these new relationships

I’d love to know if you are part of this 31% and how you use TV and the Internet.

I often check out MarketingCharts to observe online statistics and stumbled upon an interesting report from Gartner concerning Generation V last week.

This report attempts to outline and categorize internet users. Apparently, we are either creators, contributors, opportunists or lurkers.

Although I agree for the most part, I’m not sure it’s that clear cut. As for myself, I believe I have elements of each a creator, a contributor and an opportunist – I’m not sure who would admit to being a lurker (but that’s just me I suppose). What about you?

These are the findings directly from the report:

Findings about these Generation V segments:

Up to 3% will be creators, providing original content. They can be advocates that promote products and services.
Between 3% and 10% will be contributors who add to the conversation, but don’t initiate it. They can recommend products and services as customers move through a buying process, looking for purchasing advice.
Between 10% and 20% will be opportunists, who can further contributions regarding purchasing decisions. Opportunists can add value to a conversation that’s taking place while walking through a considered purchase.
Approximately 80% will be lurkers, essentially spectators, who reap the rewards of online community input but absorb only what is being communicated. They can still implicitly contribute and indirectly validate value from the rest of the community. All users start out as lurker.

Please feel free to comment on this. I’d love to see if I’m the only one who thinks these findings are slightly generalist.

Tag: online statistics

Generation V: Majority of Internet Users are Lurkers!