Etude réalisée par Kantar Media TGI UK

Simultaneously surfing the web and being exposed to other media such as television or radio is the norm for many media multitaskers. Kantar Media’s TGI Net survey measures consumer internet usage and a whole host of online and offline activities enabling marketers to build a detailed picture of the most connected consumers.

When analysing the activities that internet users do while surfing the net, listening to or watching television comes out on top with over 15 million people multitasking in this way, equating to just over a third of all internet users. Many consumers also connect with their friends or family offline while surfing the net – 20% send text messages and 16% chat on their mobile phones.

Listening to music is one of the most popular activities while using the internet – a quarter of users listen to their own music collections and, although eclipsed by television, radio still attracts 23% of multitaskers. Interestingly, 5.5 million consumers listen to radio offline (through a separate device) with the same number listening via an online radio player – although these are two distinctly different groups of multitaskers.

Online radio listeners are, on average, four years younger than their offline counterparts and also 80% more likely to be in the TGI Lifestage group “Flown the Nest” (15-34, unattached, not living with parents). On the other hand, TGI Life Events data reveals that offline radio listeners are 80% more likely than the average internet user to have finished their mortgage repayments in the last 12 months.

TGI’s in-depth measurement of radio also enables marketers to analyse these groups at a more granular level. For instance, online radio listening multitaskers are 60% more likely to specially choose to listen to Dave Gorman’s show on Absolute Radio and 50% more likely to listen to BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat. Meanwhile, offline radio listeners are most likely to tune in to World Music on BBC Radio 3 and they are 40% more likely to specially choose to listen to Classic FM’s Evening Concert.

Moreover, the heaviest users of the internet are also the most likely to multitask – suggesting that lighter users and relative newcomers prefer to focus solely on their screen. For instance, 24% of consumers who use the internet once a day watch DVDs / videos while surfing, compared to just 4% of consumers who use the web less than once per week.

TGI’s Net Europa data can place these findings within the context of other major Western European market. For instance, 30% of internet users in each of Germany, France and Spain listen to any type of radio while surfing the net – far higher than the 23% in GB. When it comes to television, GB is beaten into second place by France with 40% of their internet users listening to or watching the box while online – compared to 38% in GB, 37% in Germany and just 27% in Spain. 

Savvy consumers are no longer faced with choosing one medium over another as the internet has allowed for simultaneous exposure to a variety of media channels, often blurring the lines between the traditional and digital.

As featured in BRAD