TARGET research reveals new insights concerning the impact of technology on media habits. The decrease in hours spent watching television observed in the past few years can be explained partly by the increasing popularity of wireless devices. In fact, these devices create a negative synergy on TV viewing when combined together. For instance, active and urban consumers owning no wireless devices are watching 13.7 hours of television per week while those owning a cell phone and an MP3 player are spending 12.5 hours in front of the TV. The average number of hours spent watching TV drops to 11.3 hours for those owning a cell phone, an MP3 player and a wireless email device:
Mobility is a key trend for urban and active consumers, as those owning wireless devices are spending more time on out-of-home activities. The combination of several devices increases the average number of hours spent on out-of-home activities each week:
* Out of home activities include: entertainment, shows, restaurants, bars, movies, sports events and fitness activities
MP3 players are key for the younger members of the Valuable Active Crowd while the older segment prefer wireless email devices and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Even if women and men are almost equally using high speed Internet and cell phones, men are still more likely than women to own wireless email devices, PDAs and MP3 players:
| Technology | Average age | Average Individual Income | Men | Women |
| MP3 player | 28.2 | $46,947 | 26.1% | 17.1% |
| High-speed Internet | 29.5 | $46,374 | 72.2% | 69.6% |
| Cell phone | 29.9 | $46,580 | 83.4% | 82.2% |
| Wireless email device (Blackberry) | 32.0 | $76,081 | 8.0% | 3.8% |
| PDA | 32.2 | $67,585 | 17.2% | 10.0% |
TARGETTM is a research consisting of over 12,000 personal interviews conducted across Canada by NEWAD & Ipsos-Reid among the Valuable Active Crowd, comprising 3.7 million active and urban consumers.
For more information contact Samuel Bussieres at NEWAD at samuelb@newad.com
