Small screen viewing goes beyond TV

TV viewing more than halves as viewers switch to smaller screens to watch favourite sitcoms, sports

Digital devices could soon turf out television screens from homes across the world as per the findings of the Accenture 2017 Digital Consumer Survey. The survey reveals a dramatic shift in how people are watching their favourite shows and games and engaging with brands and ads; while computers have overtaken TV sets as the most favoured screen for watching TV shows, the number of people who said that they would rather watch a video on a smartphone has doubled over the last two years. 

The survey records a 55 per cent drop in consumers watching TV shows on TV sets over the past year; from 52 per cent in 2016, it is down to 23 per cent in 2017. For Indian consumers, it dropped 78 per cent, from 47 per cent to 10 per cent. 

The Accenture global online survey covered 26,000 consumers in 26 countries (including India) and the report titled Winning Experiences in the New Video World shows that only one in five consumers (19 per cent) now prefer to watch sports games on their TVs, down from 38 per cent in the prior-year survey. For India, the trend is clearly visible in the sharp jump in viewership numbers on Hotstar for the ongoing Indian Premier League. The number of viewers in the first 12 days of the tournament on Hotstar is more than double of what was achieved for the duration of the entire tournament last year.

According to Abhesh Verma, COO of video streaming platform nexGtv, “The increasing smartphone and internet penetration has been a significant factor behind the growth of OTT. The proliferation of second screen options such as laptops and mobiles has completely negated the need for audiences to be dictated by the rigid programming of TV,” he says.

“The ever increasing penetration of the internet mainly through mobile, backed by WiFi and broadband has helped this wave. This coupled with high-quality content has enticed Indian consumers to view varied content both live broadcast and video-on-demand (VOD) on different devices,” said Aditya Chaudhuri, managing director and lead for Accenture’s communications, media and technology group in India.

Viewers prefer the small screen as it allows for easy and on-the-go viewing. Viewers also choose the mobile phone to watch shows they do not want to share with family and friends. Changing lifestyles and tastes are driving more and more people towards their digital devices.

More than four in 10 consumers (42 per cent) said they would rather view TV shows on a laptop or desktop, up from 32 percent in last year’s survey. Thirteen per cent said they prefer watching TV shows on their smartphones, compared with 10 per cent last year. The report notes that the “decline in TV viewing over the past year tracks with a four-year trend. As recently as 2014, the survey revealed that nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) of consumers preferred the TV set for viewing TV shows.”  In the report, more than one-third (41 per cent) of consumers said they would rather view video clips on their mobile handsets, a substantial increase from 28 per cent last year.

Interestingly, a large number of those surveyed (people in the age band 14-55 years), said that they welcome personalised advertising based on their past online behaviour. This should come as a shot in the arm for brands that have struggled to find a way to ride the digital wave. In India, a recent survey by Boston Consulting Group and Facebook showed that while fashion sales increasingly had a huge online component, brands and departmental stores were still marginal players on the medium. E-commerce firms and mobile handset companies are big digital advertisers, however, and their share of digital ad spends is expected to rise even further.