Video Consumer Mapping Study at Re:think 2009

The Video Consumer Mapping Study is the largest and most significant observational study of media activity ever undertaken.  It is the first known study to document consumers’ media behavior across various screen media from a single sample, and to identify sole media use versus media multitasking.  The ARF’s Re:think will lead the industry discussions on the findings.

The year-long, $3.5 million study tracked 350 people from six TV markets during 2008.  The findings confirm earlier research, but challenge a number of widely held beliefs:

• Which age group consumes the most screen time during their waking day?
• Who does the most media multitasking?
• Are younger viewers really shifting away from traditional TV toward online video?
• Which medium, TV, Computers, Print, or Audio, has the highest percentage of time spent as the sole medium being used?  How does Live TV compare to the DVR playback, computer video, and mobile video?
• How much commercial time are TV viewers exposed to in a typical day?
• What impact does acquiring HDTV have on overall television usage?

The ARF’s Craig Gugel, SVP Media Analytics, will moderate a panel on Wednesday afternoon at Re:think 2009: The ARF’s 55th Annual Convention + Expo with Mike Hess, EVP Research, Marketing Science & Consumer Insights, Carat.  The panel features Mike Pardee, SVP Research Scripps Networks, Noreen Simmons, Director of Media Strategy & Operations Unilever, Bill Moult, Founding Partner Sequent Partners, Jim Spaeth, Founding Partner Sequent Partners and Mike Bloxham, Director, Insight & Research, Center for Media Design Ball State University.

The study was commissioned by the Council for Research Excellence (CRE), a Nielsen funded, but completely independent industry think tank, consisting of roughly 40 of the top senior research executives in the industry, and conducted by Ball State University’s Center for Media Design and Sequent Partners.