iDevices And Revival Of 1950s Living Room Gathering, Sort Of

British communications market research firm Ofcom’s http://goo.gl/PpxQf0 finds that families are still coming together to watch TV in the living room, with 91% of UK adults viewing TV on the household’s main set each week, up from 88% in 2002.

However, it’s not quite a return to 1950s patterns, what with an increasing array of digital media now vying for attention, and people streaming videos, sending and receiving instant messages, and updating their social media status – all while ostensibly watching more TV than before.

The report notes that more than half of UK adults (51%) now owning smartphones, almost double the proportion two years ago (27%), and att the same time, tablet ownership has more than doubled in the past year, rising from 11% of UK homes to 24%, with the average household now owning more than three types of internet enabled device, and one in five owning six or more. Over half (53%) of UK adults now media multi-task while watching TV on a weekly basis, and watching other content on a different device is one of these activities. Half (49%) of respondents use their smartphones and tablets for completely unrelated activities while watching TV every week – such as surfing the net (36%), social networking (22%) or online shopping (16%), and women significantly more likely to media multi-task (56% compared to 51% of men), as are those with children at home (66%).

Ofcom’s Director of Research James Thickett comments in a release: “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.”

For the full report visit here:
http://goo.gl/PpxQf0