Recent research confirms the trend that people regularly combine television viewing and other types of media. Data from online surveys of over two thousand people showed that people regularly update their facebook profiles, send IM messages, send text messages or surf the web while watching TV. This is particularly a part of life for 18-24 year olds. Almost three quarters of them admitted to regularly browsing the internet while watching TV and 86% said that they socialised about their TV viewing using SMS, Facebook or instant messenger to discuss what they were watching.
The study, was included in YouGov’s social TV trends report, and was commissioned by social media agency Diffusion
This has interesting consequences for service design, particularly for the design of touchpoint content. When designing for the 18-24 year old age group, it could be a shrewd policy to develop content that supplements TV schedules. This is becoming a big thing with apps for ipads and iphones to complement football and Formula 1 racing. I’m sure that this can be expanded to supplement content or even host discussions on almost any TV program. This could be a facebook add on, or as a stand-alone solution. With 86% of the 18-24 age group available for your content, then the opportunities are worth a look.