SavvyQuest™: Mobile Within US Consumers’ Overall Media Usage
How do US consumers integrate mobile devices into their overall media consumption? To what extent is the mobile device a complement to consumers’ use of other media platforms? To what extent is the mobile device a substitute for other media, and for which platforms? To help answer these and related questions, MMA ran this SavvyQuest™ omnibus survey from December 19 to December 23, 2009. Respondents who owned a cell phone participated in the full length of the study. They were asked the following questions regarding their cell phone and media usage:
- Brand of current cell phone
- Current cellular service provider
- Types of non-mobile communication used within the last week
- What specific mobile activities they used their mobile phone for within last week (texting, camera, etc.)
- Other media consumed while also using a mobile phone within last week
MOST POPULAR MEDIA: MOBILE PHONE USAGE TRAILS ONLY EMAIL USAGE AMONG ALL RESPONDENTS
The first important criterion for media impact is the proportion of the population that not only has access to a particular media of communication, but also has used it recently. Fully 91% of all US adult consumers surveyed for this study reported having a cell phone, and of these, 94% indicated they used it at least once during the prior week. This translates to 86% of all US adult consumers surveyed (including non-owners of cell phones) having used a cell phone during the survey period.
In fact, even including non-cell phone owners among US adult consumers among the survey sample, cell phone usage ranked as the second-most widely-used media overall, exceeded only by the proportion of consumers sending or receiving email on a personal computer (88%); also tied for second place is “browsing the web on a PC,” also at 86%. Interestingly, TV-viewing was reported by only 84% of all respondents.
MOST POPULAR MEDIA: MOBILE PHONE USAGE TRAILS ONLY EMAIL USAGE AMONG ALL RESPONDENTS
Another important measure of media impact is total time allotted to its use. When asked how many minutes they spent on a given media in the week before the survey, respondents’ answers provided a somewhat different picture of the media landscape. Measured by hours or minutes spent, TV viewing soared to first place, with mobile ranking 5th out of the 13 media categories reported, with more than twice the minutes spent reading newspapers, and three times the minutes spent on magazines The average weekly minutes for the top media were:
- TV viewing (748 minutes/week)
- Browsing the web from a traditional PC (518 minutes)
- Listening to radio (189 minutes)
- Sending or receiving email from a PC (160 minutes)
- Using mobile phone (146 minutes)
However, total minutes devoted to each media varied significantly by key segments of the population. Among adults aged 18 to 24, and 25 to 34, for example, mobile phone usage now ranks third in total time spent, surpassing both radio consumption and PC-based email. Moreover, iPhone users devoted a full 259 minutes on average to using their mobile device, lifting iPhone usage to third position for these handset owners, behind only TV viewing and web-browsing in terms of total time spent.
MOBILE PHONES WERE PRIMARILY USED TO MAKE/RECEIVE CALLS, TEXT MESSAGE, AND TAKE PICTURES:
Of course, mobile media consumption itself encompasses a variety of activities. Looking at the cell phone users who used their cell phone within the last week, (86% of all respondents) the top activities they used their phone for were:
- Made or received phone calls (91% of cell phone owners, 83% of all respondents)
- Sent or received text messages (59% of cell phone owners, 54% of all respondents)
- Took pictures (36% of cell phone owners, 33% of all respondents)
Other emerging mobile phone activities included downloading apps and watching video with about one in ten mobile phone users citing doing each last week.
Young consumers (18-24) stood out as the age group spending the most time texting (averaging close to 3 hours last week compared to 1 hour on average for the population). In general, Asians and Hispanics showed a higher usage of mobile phones for all given activities ranging from making calls, doing emails, taking pictures, playing games, to watching video. Hispanics seem more likely to spend significantly more time text messaging and taking pictures, and African Americans seem more likely to spend significantly more time making/receiving calls on their mobile phone.
Customers of AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile were found to be more versatile users of mobile phones and spent significantly more time browsing the web, sending/receiving emails, listening to music, taking pictures, and watching videos.
MEDIA MULTI-TASKING: MORE THAN A QUARTER OF US CONSUMERS USE MOBILE PHONES WHILE WATCHING TELEVISION, SURFING THE WEB, AND LISTENING TO THE RADIO
The days when media are consumed in isolation appear to be fast disappearing, as the mobile phone is increasingly a presence to be reckoned with, even when consumers are devoting their attention to other media.
The proportion of all respondents who reported they also used their mobile phone at the same time as they used non-mobile media were:
- Watching television and using mobile phone (36%)
- Surfing the web on a personal computer and using the mobile phone (32%)
- Listening to the radio (27%)
- Sending or received email on a personal computer (26%)
In general, the older the respondents become, the less likely they are to media multitask. Asians seem significantly more likely to engage in multitasking using mobile phone and other media technologies, and Hispanics seem significantly more likely to use their mobile phone while watching television.
Compared to other mobile phone brands, iPhone owners showed a stronger tendency to media multitask. Respondents with Blackberry are heavy email users, not only on their mobile phone but also on computer. Furthermore, they also spend a significant amount of time sending emails on a computer while using their mobile phone.
About SavvyQuest
SavvyQuest is an Omnibus survey service provided by Luth Research leveraging SurveySavvy™, the company’s high-quality multimillion-member online panel. With SavvyQuest, an online survey with a target total of 1,000 completes is fielded based on a weekly schedule, which can be tailored to on-demand schedules if needed. The 1,000 completes are balanced to reflect the U.S. Census demographic distributions on gender, age and ethnicity. The sample can be later weighted to reflect online population distributions if it is so desired. For more information, please contact Becky Wu, Vice President of Research, at bwu@luthresearch.com.