The gradual shift towards multi-screen, on demand TV viewing has continued as an increasing number of households have internet-capable televisions, but live linear TV still dominates, the latest Multi-Screen Report has found.
The quarterly report, which analyses ratings and viewing data from Nielsen, OzTam and Regional TAM, provides a snapshot into how audience viewing patterns and behaviour is evolving.
In the year to Q2 2016, household penetration of internet-ready TV sets increased from 30% to 36%, enabling viewers more flexibility to view content on demand. This was the fastest take up of any device that shows TV and video content, although smartphones, PVRs and tablets already have a much higher penetration.
The slow shift to multi-screen viewing has done little to dent live linear TV's dominance. Broadcast TV has the largest reach and audience with 88.1% of Australians watching each week, marginally down from 88.3% a year ago.
Young audiences shrink
The report found that TV's reach is contracting in younger audiences and expanding in older Australians.
About eight in ten teens (79.3%) and 72.% of 16-24 year olds watch broadcast TV each week, although the biggest drop in TV reach was found in 25 to 39-year-olds, down 2.4 percentage points to 81.8%. On the flip side, 94.8% of pensioners (65 and above) are tuning into live linear TV at least once a week.
The growth in video viewing has grown substantially on mobile devices in the past year. Australians aged 16 and above spend 4 hours and 18 minutes each month watching online video on a smartphone, up from 2 hours and 47 minutes a year ago. Tablet video viewing also grew by about an hour per month.
These figures are dwarfed by linear TV monthly viewing figures with active users watching 84 hours 42 minutes of live television and 10 hours 7 minutes of catch up.
TV TARP contraction
The transition to multi-screen viewing has led to a drop in live linear TV's target audience rating point (TARP), which measures TV's audience as a percentage of a total potential audience at any one time.
Live linear dropped 0.4 points to 10.8 TARPs, playback TV accounted for 1.3 TARPs, up 0.2 points while other TV screen usage stayed steady at 4 TARP. The total TARPs for television sets dropped 0.2 points to 16.1.
In terms of demographics, teenagers aged 13 to 17 watch the least live linear TV, with 4.2% of the demographic watching live linear television at any time, down from 4.9% in the previous year.
People aged 55 and over are the biggest consumers, with an average of 18.1% of the audience watching live linear at any time and a growing proportion 1.9% watching playback.
Other TV screen usage, which includes anything from watching content on SVODs,YouTube, gaming and so on, increased by 47 minutes per month during prime time. A lot of this is likely to be down to the growing popularity of SVOD players and internet TV content.
For the first time, the Multi-Screen report mapped out how people use different devices across the day in ‘shape of day’ charts.
The charts indicate that linear TV audiences peak earlier in the evening than playback and other devices as viewers use the later evening hours to catch up on TV. Below is an example from the report.
AUSTRALIAN MULTI-SCREEN REPORT QUARTER 2 2016 // © 2016 REGIONAL TAM, OZTAM, NIELSEN. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
OzTam chief executive Doug Peiffer tells AdNews the report shows that viewing is spreading across tablets, smartphones and other devices, particularly when TVs are not available.
"What we can see here is that tablets and phones are used earlier in the day. You see tablets also later in the day and catch up on desktop later in the evening where people are using their laptops like a PVR. Live linear television peaks at about 8pm and then drops off but catch up then replaces that," Peiffer adds.
"Live tends to get squeezed a little bit, but it's still the majority of viewing, and playback has increased."
Peiffer says the charts highlight the growing importance for marketers to adopt a multi-screen approach rather than focusing on one device or one distribution method.
"The message for advertisers is that when you purchase or sponsor a television program you want to make sure you are across all screens for your content," he says. "Then there's an opportunity to catch people on other screens who are using a catch up service broadcast."
Despite their growing use, OzTam wont be measuring SVOD player viewing figures anytime soon as the players do not carry advertising and there is no commercial imperative for third-party measurement.
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