8 in 10 Filipinos consume media content through multiple screens

MANILA, Philippines – Not one, not two, but 3 screens – that is how 8 of 10 Filipinos consume media content these days, according to a report released Monday, December 15, by Nielsen, a global information and insights company.

According to the Nielsen Cross-Platform Report, multi-screening is now a prevalent behavior among digital users, thus the shift in the consumption of media.

The proliferation of smartphones and other mobile devices is driving the rise in Internet usage and, subsequently, how people are now consuming media content not just through one screen but multiple screens, observed Stuart Jamieson, managing director of Nielsen Philippines.

“Media owners and brands must continue to innovate to be able to capitalize on multi-screening behavior and deliver enhanced audience engagement with programs and advertising,” Jamieson said.

The Nielsen South Asia Cross-Platform Report series, sponsored by Videology, covers the changing media landscape in some of the most dynamic markets in rising Asia, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and India.

The choice to control

Despite the Internet’s accessibility via mobile devices, newspaper readership (broadsheets, tabloids, and regional newspapers) remains stable over the past year and steady quarter-on-quarter. Around 14% of people in National Urban Philippines are yesterday readers, according to the Nielsen’s Consumer and Media View study.

Radio listening also shows an upsurge from 53% yesterday listeners to 62% in the past year. Yesterday TV viewership also slightly exhibits increase from 93% to 95% over the past year.

But about 7 in 10 digital consumers in the Philippines report watching TV content and movies via online sources such as video-on-demand – the second highest penetration of Internet TV in the region after Thailand.

YouTube is also increasingly acknowledged as a “TV channel” or platform.

“Online delivery of video content adds yet another dimension to Filipinos’ TV viewing habits when planning and strategizing opportunities for brand reach and message resonance via video content,” Jamieson said. 

Dual screening behavior – or people watching TV while also accessing online content related to the TV programs they are watching or they may also be accessing unrelated content altogether – is fragmented. Thus, it has become increasingly more important to understand how people behave across different media, Jamieson said.

According to the Cross-Platform report, among the media formats, online consumption is most stable, as it is accessed throughout the day on various devices.

Online activity on desktops plateaus during working hours and peaks on laptops at night, while consistent use is observed on mobile phones and tablets throughout the day.

In contrast, newspaper readership and radio listening are most popular in the early morning before working hours, while TV viewing dips in the afternoon and increases drastically during primetime.

Internet TV, however, follows online behavior rather than traditional TV behavior – it is consistent throughout the day.

Demand for online video content

Common pastime – that is how viewing online video content became ingrained among digital consumers in the Philippines, with the majority watching online videos at least weekly.

Viewing in the Philippines is the second highest in the region at 85%, following Vietnam at 91%. Laptops or personal computers are the most popular device used to view video on demand (89%); followed by TV screen (40%); and mobile phone (39%).

As such, online video advertising is proving to be an effective means of stimulating product search and purchase – 89% of Filipino digital consumers search for an item seen within online video advertising from a laptop or desktop, versus 67% who do so after seeing an ad on a mobile device.

Six in 10 or 62% have made a purchase as a result of seeing an online video ad from a laptop or desktop versus 49% of Filipino digital consumers who bought a product after seeing an ad through a mobile device.

A sample of 1,000 frequent online users (used the Internet in the past month) aged 16 years and above was captured for the Nielsen South Asia Cross-Platform Report series using an online survey methodology. The results and analysis do not cover the behaviors or profiles of consumers who do not use the Internet.

Responses were collected during April and May 2014, while trending analysis compares 2014 with 2011.

The Nielsen Consumer and Media View, meanwhile, is the “first and only comprehensive survey” in the Philippines (and also done in the Asia-Pacific) on media exposure, product usage, and lifestyle of consumers in Metro Manila and 56 key cities and municipalities in balance urban Philippines. – Rappler.com

 

Multitasking couple using various mobile devices image from Shutterstock