It seems like we’ve been publishing a couple TV-tablet studies every week — you can catch up in our social TV research section — and today Nielsen published part two of its tablet study, which breaks it all down by demographic. You may remember the first study that found 45% of US tablet owners are using the device daily in front of TV. Today, Nielsen answers the question, what are they doing on their tablets? And how does it change across demographic groups? To the chart:
The data isn’t terribly surprising: email is the top activity, men check sports scores more than women, women are slightly more interested in deals and coupons, and younger users are more inclined to use social media while watching TV. (Unfortunately, the data doesn’t break down the amount of social activity that’s tied to the broadcast — that would be a great study to do.)
In aggregate, it’s a good reminder that a large chunk of the TV+tablet audience is doing unrelated stuff on their devices. While some argue that second-screen experiences are distracting, in reality they have the potential to attract a large chunk of viewers away from completely unrelated interactive activities. And TV viewers engaged on a well-produced second screen will be more engaged with the broadcast than someone checking email or sharing family photos on Facebook.
By the way, today’s Nielsen report also has some interesting DVR data, too.