The cycle of life reflected in devices
Do you 'second screen' while eating your breakfast? Or read a newspaper, perhaps? If you're engaging with any type of video-enabled device during the week, there's a good chance that at breakfast it's a tablet. Looking at all video usage on a device during a UK viewing day, tablet usage peaks at breakfast just as its smaller-screened sister, the smartphone, dips. As the morning progresses the smartphone then ascends to an initial peak at lunchtime before sliding off in the afternoon. As people return from work, they gravitate towards much larger screens, favouring TVs, laptops and PCs, and streamers (connected to TV screens) for their viewing. When people have time to relax and engage, then, the large screen definitely still rules.
At the weekend, patterns are similar, but with subtle differences. The smartphone shows a much more drastic dip in the afternoon as people favour streamers and PCs. In the evening, the traditional TV set (including DVR and smart TVs) becomes even more dominant than during the week, at the expense of streamers and PCs, suggesting viewers are turning to the main broadcast outlets for their weekend evening entertainment. Substitute service or platform for 'device' and this analysis throws up some interesting guides to viewer engagement. Weekday evening viewers are gravitating towards the TV set and the streamer (read: Netflix, Catch-up and other SVoD services) while weekend evening viewers dip away towards the main broadcast feed on a traditional TV set. Weekday day time is about online content and catch-up streaming while weekend afternoons are spent with an OTT or SVoD service via a streamer. Of course, within these cycles , the full spectrum of viewing behaviour persists, but the device increasingly reflects both the favoured type of content and the favoured way of viewing it.
A note on reading the chart: The lines shows the proportion of all viewing on the stated device during a 24 hour period. The peaks and troughs in each line therefore sum to 100%. A peak of one line above another does not necessarily mean that there is more viewing on that device than the other devices at that time, simply that there is a peak in use of that specific device among all its daily viewing time. This is because the viewing time spent on each device varies considerably; the TV set having by far the most overall viewing time.
The Amp is our highly-acclaimed free weekly
round up of key industry news, delivered to
your inbox.
Sign up and be informed.