British adults are increasingly consuming multiple media platforms at the same time, a new study has found.
According to the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), 79 per cent of adults consumed two or more media in the same half hour during a typical week in 2005.
However, this figure now stands at 92 per cent, while 26 per cent of adults are consuming at least three different media in any 30-minute period.
This means they are spending an average of two hours and seven minutes of each day “media multi-tasking.”
The IPA noted that this is almost a quarter of the overall amount of time British adults spend consuming media, which works out at seven hours and 56 minutes a day.
Television and video was found to be the most dominant platform among British adults, followed by Out of Home (OOH), radio and social networking/messaging.
Interestingly, TV was found to be the largest medium overall among millennials, although social media/messaging is competing with OOH to be the second-largest platform.
Figures also indicated that the amount of time spent online (for any activity) is continuing to rise and now stands at four hours and 43 minutes per day.
Sarah Golding, President of the IPA, commented: “Our media consumption patterns are continuing to grow and fragment as technology, new platforms and media channels are delivering an ever wider choice of content, available to us on a 24/7 basis. The knock-on effect on our lives – both personally and professionally – cannot be underestimated.”
Ms Golding added that this data will be “invaluable” in helping advertising and marketing specialists to “recognise the most appropriate ways to approach consumers – one that improves lives rather than interrupts.”
