More Americans multitask while using media
Fully 60% of women ages 18+ report that, in an average day, they use no other media and engage in no other activity while reading magazines. Among women ages 18-34, the figure rises to 67%. On the other hand, 57% of men use no other media and engage in no other activity while watching TV.
Across the total adult population, 51% of consumers report that they use no other medium or engage in no other activities while reading magazines, down from the 54% of consumers in GfK MRI's MediaDay 2008 survey. Exclusive use of the Internet has declined from 54% to 45%, exclusive use of newspapers from 55% to 50% and exclusive use of TV has remained the same, at 49% of consumers, across the same time period.
Age is a factor
Age clearly influences exclusive media use. Adults ages 35 and older are more likely to do nothing else when using each of the four major media than are those ages 18-34. When it comes to magazines, the Internet and newspapers, men ages 18-34 are the least likely to be exclusive media users, according to MediaDay 2010.
"These finding are interesting because we appear to be at a tipping point," said Anne Marie Kelly, SVP, Marketing & Strategic Planning, at GfK MRI. "Concurrent media usage and other forms of multitasking while consuming media is certainly on the rise, and yet roughly one-half of all adults report that they do nothing else when consuming the Internet, magazines, newspapers or TV. So, while multitasking is a fact of life for marketers and media providers struggling to capture an increasingly fragmented share of mind, the number of consumers exclusively engaged with any particular medium is about equal to the number of multitaskers... at least for now."
First released in June 2007, MediaDay details the daily media usage of American consumers, showing when they use particular media, where they are when they use them, what else they are doing at the time and how engaged they are with each medium. MediaDay is conducted via telephone re-contact of 4000 adults (ages 18+) who also participate in GfK MRI's national Survey of the American Consumer.
