Television remains Australia’s number one activity, but new data indicates more people are turning to their tablets and smartphones as their first option for entertainment.
Deloitte released its annual media survey this week, finding that television viewership is at a tipping point.
Results show 64 per cent of the 2,300 Australians surveyed chose TV as their preferred method of media consumption while internet use came in a close second at 63 per cent, a 10 per cent climb over the past three years.
As social media and personal internet use threatens to usurp the television’s stranglehold over Australians, a whopping 81 per cent of people now own a smartphone and 63 per cent a tablet.
Another 18 per cent use online catch-up services, including Foxtel and ABC iView, to keep up to date with the latest in television offerings while 72 per cent of Aussies are comfortable “binge watching” three of more TV episodes in one sitting, 26 per cent doing that each week.
“Our findings on what we use, where we use it and how, all show that Australians are increasingly sophisticated and savvy when it comes to digital,” Deloitte Media Partner report co-author Niki Alcorn said.
“Even the matures and boomers, who are our fastest growing group of tablet users at 42% and 21% compound annual growth respectively, are multitasking while watching TV. They mostly read emails or surf the web.”
“It is the speed at which we are changing to digital that is most impressive,” she added. “Our shift to social is up 170%, and our shift in entertainment preferences to the internet from TV has grown 10% year on year for the past three to its current 63% preference versus 64% for TV.
More interesting is Australia’s standing among other countries as digital consumers where we trump a number of surprising tech-savvy nations.
“In Australia for instance there is a greater proportion of ‘digital omnivores’ than in the US (37%) or Japan (17%). And at 53% we are just behind Norway’s 57%, although we lag China (63%).
Check out the full Deloitte Media Consumer Survey here.
Photo: Getty Images
