Nielsen Sez Digital Blurring Media Definitions

The number of digital devices and platforms available to today’s consumers has exploded in recent years. As a result, Nielsen reports today’s consumer is more connected than ever, with more access to and deeper engagement with content and brands. And these changes are contributing to the media revolution and blurring traditional media definitions.

Americans now own four digital devices on average, and the average U.S. consumer spends 60 hours a week consuming content across devices. And a majority of U.S. households now own high-definition televisions (HDTVs), Internet-connected computers and smartphones. In addition to more devices, consumers also have more choices for how and when they access content.

As a result, consumption habits are changing. According to Nielsen, the rapid adoption of a second screen has transformed the traditional TV viewing experience, with consumers using smartphones and tablets in ways that are natural extensions of the programming they watch. And social media usage is now standard practice in our daily lives—almost half (47%) of smartphone owners visit social networks every day.

It has never been a more important time to know how consumers are behaving than in today’s fast evolving digital environment. These trends in digital technology are propelling consumers’ new multiscreen, constantly connected lifestyles.

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The Nielsen report found:

• That young adults can’t put their smartphones down even when they go potty. About 40 percent of those aged 18-24, twice the national average, use social media in the bathroom.
• An eye-popping 84 percent are using another device — a smartphone or tablet — when they watch TV.
• In a huge boost for Netflix, the report found 38 percent of US consumers subscribe, or use, the streaming service; 23 percent of those said they watch it on a smartphone outside the home, up from 11 percent the year before.
• As a nation we spend a stunning 2¹/₂ days a week, or 60 hours, consuming media content across all devices.
• Bad news for advertisers trying to reach viewers with perishable offers: We’re watching almost 3 hours less live TV a month, even though TV remains the most-watched screen.
•  Time spent watching TV via DVRs or On Demand services rose by 1 hour, 42 minutes, while video viewing via the Web rose by 43 minutes.
• The shifts have sent the value of content watched live much higher, particularly sports content.
•  In a bit of good news for iTunes, smartphone users spent almost 10 hours more per month using apps and browsing the Web than last year.
• Most social-media sites have seen their PC audiences sink, with the exception of LinkedIn, Nielsen finds. LinkedIn saw a 37 percent jump in its unique audience to 39 million.
• Facebook and its Instagram unit dominated social media in terms of unique audience on smartphones, Nielsen found. The two social-media brands had a unique app-based audience of 144 million combined.
• Facebook grew 39 percent, while Instagram jumped 79 percent.
• Twitter, the next-closest competitor, grew by a much smaller percentage, Nielsen found. It increased by 38 percent, to 31 million.
•  Americans spent 7 hours, 43 minutes a month on Facebook checking out baby photos, remembering dead relatives and photographing their meals, according to the report.
• They spent 3 hours on Twitter, doing such things as sharing complaints about bad service