Simultaneous Media Usage

Simultaneous media usage (SIMM) continues to grow…October ’06: SIMM survey shows over 70% of consumers, at one time or another, use media simultaneously. 

Here are some ways consumers multitask when using various media:
 
RADIO
When listening, 57.3% simultaneously go online, 46.9% read newspaper and 17.7% watch TV…SIMM usage poses challenge for media companies and marketers…who’s paying attention to what?  51.2% of radio listening multitaskers say they pay more attention to one medium more than the other…these same people put stock in what friends say, 77% of them said word of mouth is important or very important in influencing their purchase decisions.

TV
Newspapers are a TV watcher’s best friend as 74.2% of people who watch TV regularly or occasionally read the newspaper…66.2% say they go online and that documentaries are the preferred TV programming for those who watch TV and go online simultaneously.  Documentaries lend themselves to listening, perfect for the simultaneous media using TV watchers…Movies are the preferred programming for people who read newspapers and also watching TV (64.3%) followed by police detective shows (56%) and situation comedies (51.5%.)  For those who wonder what happened to the 18-34 year old television viewer whose decline caused Nielsen much heat from the networks this past fall…SIMM also shows some decline - 18-24 year olds (down 8.8%) and 25-34 year olds (down 12.2%)…What are they doing instead of watching TV while online?  They are playing video games.

NEWSPAPER
Listening activities seem most agreeable to newspaper readers as 52.4% say they watch TV and 49.6% say they listen to the radio when reading the newspaper.  Likewise, more women (52.4%) than men (49.6%) prefer reading the newspaper and listening to the radio simultaneously…In addition, 60.6% television watchers and newspaper readers say television is an important or very important influence on their purchase decision.

ONLINE
Ever wonder what people do when waiting to download something online?  How about listening to a favorite tune or talk radio as 52.1% say they simultaneously listen to the radio…an even greater number (61.8%) say they watch TV…20.2% are reading the newspaper.  Radio is also an influential medium for online users as 56.2% say its important or very important influence on purchase decisions.

WORD OF MOUTH 
What’s new in word of mouth?  How about cell phones and the Internet.  Cell phones place much more influence by word of mouth when it comes to making purchase decisions.  80% consider it important or very important versus 72.5% of all consumers…cell phone users also spend much more time each day online (internet, email, IM), 4 hours versus 3 hours for all.