Motorola Mobility's Home business is preparing to release its fourth major study into multiscreen behaviours, The Motorola Media Engagement Barometer 2012. Created to explore the shifts in media consumption – functionally and emotionally – across all generations, the study provides a fascinating insight to the trends that are shaping how audiences interact with and consume content today.
The study provides insights into what services consumers are accessing, their content preferences and the continued mobilization of content. The report analyses data from 9,000 respondents from across 16 countries, covering the US and UK as well as important emerging regions such as Russia and the UAE.
The data will be released soon, but reviewing the historical findings provides an interesting guide to the evolution of content experiences.
Looking back at past findings from the study shows we are still in the midst of a transition, as traditional content habits exist alongside the emergence of new viewing behaviours – both inside and outside the home.
In 2011, the average person spent 13 hours consuming entertainment content via the internet, 16 hours watching TV or films, seven hours on social networks and six hours playing video games. Despite the rise of multi-screen and video on demand offerings, the 2011 findings revealed that linear television was still dominant. 57 per cent of those polled globally said they "solely" or "mainly" watched scheduled and live TV. Whether or not this will still be true remains to be seen…
The 2011 study showed that there had been a 30 per cent increase in the amount of smartphone users who were discussing programming across social networks, while they were watching content on the 'first' screen. The 2013 study will look more deeply at this trend, analysing second screen behaviour in relations to specific types of content and screens.
Often consumer expectation can pre-empt the realities of the hardware that is in homes. An average of 61 per cent of European consumers expected to be able to access the same content on the go as they could do at home in 2011. This expectation was higher in the UK (69 per cent) and Spain (75 per cent).
But in the same year a smaller number on average — 37 per cent — had watched a TV show outside the home via a mobile device such as a phone, laptop or tablet. But are audiences enjoying this content flexibility today? Where are expectations in 2013?
Service providers continue to innovate, putting technologies in the hands of consumers to enable them to enjoy content on the move. Taking a look inside the average commuter train carriage and it is clear that tablets and smartphones are entertaining people on the move more than ever. The 2012 study will delve further into this trend, looking at consumer appetite for flexible content and the realities faced by service providers in delivering this experience.
Entertainment and technology companies have fought over attention in the living room for decades.
But as multi-screen content becomes a reality – perhaps the biggest trend anticipated from the new study is the rise of the truly connected home. Delivering high-quality content, to multiple screens across the home comes with its own difficulties – but consumers today now expect to watch what they want, when they want and where they want. In order to fully address this demand, content providers will need to think beyond the living room.
Findings from the new study will be published in a series of posts here. To find out more about previous studies, head here.
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