Streaming a series or watching a film on TV without distractions – this is becoming increasingly rare for people these days. The smartphone is the number one cause of distraction. Dr Luis Noschang, a marketing lecturer at Harz University of Applied Sciences, investigated the extent of so-called multiscreening with the help of 118 students from the Bachelor’s degree programmes in Marketing Management and Business Psychology: How often does the viewer’s gaze wander away from the TV, what differences are there in behaviour between genders and age groups, and how far apart are reality and self-assessment? Noschang recently published the results in the International Journal of Advertising, one of the world’s highest-ranking journals in the field of marketing.

“The fact that people engage in other activities such as ironing, reading the newspaper, or cooking whilst watching television has already been extensively studied. However, there is a lack of recent studies that take the influence of smartphones into account,” explains Luis Noschang. The study showed that 91 per cent of participants were multitasking, primarily through smartphone use. The 536 viewers observed in the study looked away from the TV an average of 6.22 times and for a total of 3 minutes and 53 seconds during a 20-minute viewing session. “A fifth of viewing time is spent not looking at the screen at all. That’s an incredible amount,” says the 43-year-old. Women, at 4 minutes and 18 seconds, looked away on average 55 seconds longer than men. All respondents also underestimated the time they spent on a secondary activity: men by 55 seconds, women by as much as 1 minute and 16 seconds.  

The age-based analyses – which looked at people aged between 18 and 88 – also revealed differences: the 55–64 age group recorded the lowest multitasking figures, at 3 minutes and 8 seconds. “What really surprised me, however, was that the 45 to 54-year-olds spent the most time looking away from the TV screen – 4 minutes and 50 seconds – closely followed by the 35 to 44-year-olds with 4 minutes and 44 seconds. I would have expected the younger viewers to be the ones doing this,” says Luis Noschang. However, the 18 to 24 and 25 to 34 age groups achieved the second-lowest figures, at 3 minutes and 37 seconds each.

To ensure the data remained as comparable as possible, the study exclusively examined behaviour whilst watching scripted programmes such as sitcoms, series, and films that follow a planned narrative arc. The students acting as observers watched TV with friends or family members in private homes and covertly noted their behaviour. After 20 minutes, the participants were briefed, given comprehensive information, and invited to submit their self-assessment. This approach ruled out distortions caused by the Hawthorne effect, which describes the phenomenon whereby people who know they are being observed subconsciously behave differently than they normally would.

As a control, a second study was conducted with 274 participants, in which the participants knew from the outset that they were being filmed. These participants looked away for just 2 minutes and 3 seconds – almost half as long as the participants in the first study. “This proves that differing levels of information lead to very large discrepancies in data collection. That is precisely why I am a big fan of experiments in natural environments, away from laboratories and without the participants’ prior knowledge,” says the study leader.

According to Luis Noschang, the results provide important insights, particularly for the advertising industry. “Up until now, the focus has always been on measuring reach – that is, how many people are watching the programme in which, for example, advertising banners or product placements are included. But what do these figures really mean if viewers are not even looking at the television for a significant portion of the broadcast time?” he asks, raising the question of additional factors that need to be taken into account. He therefore intends to continue investigating multitasking whilst watching television and its effects on advertising efforts in his research.

Text source: Harz University of Applied Sciences