ComScore’s recent study of tablet computer owners revealed that one in four smartphone owners also use a tablet computer and that, those using tablets are three times more likely to use them for watching streaming video. Ten percent of those watched videos on a daily basis.
Who’s using tablet computers is also pretty interesting. The demographic information from ComScore reveals that smartphone users and tablet users closely resemble each other. The breakdown for gender is about 50%, with 49.2% males, and 50.8% female in regard to tablets. It’s 51.6% and 48.4% for smartphones respectively.
The largest population of tablet users is 25-34 year-olds (24.4%), but is closely followed by the 35-44 age bracket (21.4%). The smallest populations were 13-17 year-olds (7.3%) and over 65+ at just 6.8%.
Smartphone usage, as I already mentioned, is similar. The largest population again was 25-34 year-olds (25.3%). They were closely followed by the 35-44 age bracket at 21.2%. The smallest categories were the same, 13-17 at 6.5% and 65+ at 5.3%.
Three income brackets make up over 75% of tablet users. $50,000 to $75,000 makes up about 19%, $75,000 to $100,000 makes up about the same, and $100,000+ accounts for 37.7%.
Smartphones users shape up about the same way with $50,000 to $75,000 coming in at around 19% again, and $75,000 to $100,000 right around 16%. $100,000+ came in at 33.4%. No surprise, people who can afford the technology take advantage of it the most.
9.5% of tablet owners watch television programming on their device everyday. Only 2.9% of smartphone owners do the same. 53% of tablet owners admit to watching at least one video a month, where only 20% of smartphone owners admit to doing the same.
It makes sense, a smartphone screen is rather small for extended watching, where having a tablet almost compels you to view online frequently. A phone is still mostly just a phone, where a tablet is more likely a laptop. Interesting stats, none the less.
Mark Donovan, SVP of Mobile at ComScore comments on tablet computer use:
“Tablets are one of the most rapidly adopted consumer technologies in history and are poised to fundamentally disrupt the way people engage with the digital world both on-the-go and perhaps most notably, in the home,”
“It’s not surprising to see that once consumers get their hands on their first tablet, they are using them for any number of media habits including TV viewing.”
It’s hard to imagine tablets are so popular since they were only introduced just a couple years ago. As prices begin to fall and the competition increases, I’ll bet these trends will increase rapidly.
