In a DisplaySearch survey of 15,000 connected TV owners in...

In a DisplaySearch survey of 15,000 connected TV owners in 15 countries, 88 percent of tablet users and 82 percent of smartphone owners said they use their mobile device at least “some of the time” while watching TV, the research firm said. Primary second-screen activities include checking email, browsing the Web, texting, and checking Facebook and weather, it said. “For many people around the world, multi-tasking with apps on smartphones and tablets while watching TV has forever changed the traditional TV-focused viewing experience,” said DisplaySearch analyst Riddhi Patel. While 85 percent of tablet owners use their devices to watch online content, just 65 percent of smartphone owners use their device to watch online content, primarily due to screen size, DisplaySearch said. Other reasons cited for not watching video on a smartphone include inferior sound quality, the discomfort of holding the device for a long time and difficulty in finding content to watch, it said. The 15 percent of tablet owners that never view online content on a tablet don’t because of screen size and poor sound quality, it said. There’s little evidence to support a “commonly held belief” that tablets and smartphones will cannibalize or adversely affect sales of TVs larger than 30 inches, Patel said. While tablet ownership has impacted sales of smaller-size TVs, “owning smartphones has little or no effect on TV purchases,” she said. Results varied according to region, Patel said. Some 60 percent of connected TV owners in the U.S. and other mature markets said they sometimes watch content on a tablet, as said 72 percent in emerging markets including Brazil, China and India. The survey was done between January and June across key global markets including Brazil, urban China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Thailand, Turkey, the U.K., U.S. and Vietnam, DisplaySearch said.