Viewers ditching TVs for their favourite digital devices, as report flags end of the family TV time

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• April 6th 2017
• 19 days ago
• /video/video.news.com.au/Technology/

The era of the family bonding around the TV is over with research showing Australians are leading the drive to watch TV content on digital devices alone. Picture: Supplied.

THE era of the TV as the hub of the home is over with people ditching family viewing time and switching on to viewing content on their digital devices at home alone.

An international report released today show Australians are leading the world in turning off the idiot box and turning on to personal time of watching shows on their personal digital devices, driven by the world of streaming content rather than the gimmick of hi-tech screens.

The Accenture 2017 Digital Consumer Survey released today shows a dramatic dive in the popularity of the television as the preferred way of watching television.

Accenture global managing director of broadcast Gavin Mann said “the dominance of the TV set as the undisputed go-to entertainment device is ending.”

The dominance of the TV set as the undisputed go-to entertainment device is ending.Source:Supplied

The study, which polled 26,000 people in 26 countries, found that the number of people who prefer watching their TV shows on a television has dramatically plummeted from 52 per cent last year to just 23 per cent this year.

That drop is even greater when compared against the previous year.

Since 2014, the percentage of people voting the TV as their favourite device for watching shows has dropped from 65 per cent to about 20 per cent, with TV lovers going from a large majority to a slight minority.

Australians are ahead of the curve when it comes to turning off the telly, with the report showing just one in five Australians now choose to watch their shows on a television.

While the big screen TV is increasingly ignored, people are turning to computers and laptops as their preferred way of watching television content.

The Accenture report shows that 42 per cent of people now list computers and laptops as their preferred device for watching television shows, ahead of smartphones on 13 per cent.

The number of people who prefer watching sport on television has halved in the past twelve months, with the Accenture report finding fewer than one in five preferring to sit in front of their TV, rather than their other devices, when it comes to watching the big game.

The rise of streaming services and mobile data has driven the new trend of the commuting binge viewer. Picture Supplied.Source:Alamy

Social researcher Mark McCrindle, of McCrindle Research, said the new research was in line with the ongoing trend which was splitting up the family when it came to watching television.

He said while televisions would remain in the home for the foreseeable future, there was a big drive in people’s viewing choices being made on what content they wanted to watch and when, rather than the quality of the broadcast.

“Content is king, even above the viewing capacity of the screen,” he said.

“The other thing that is king is convenience.”

Mr McCrindle said research showed Australians where increasingly watching video in more places, with large mobile data plans and bring-your-own devices on planes fuelling the rise of the commuting binge viewer.

“The shared family experience of watching a show together is becoming a thing of the past,” Mr McCrindle said.

“Sharing takes place but its sharing through social media or bring a screen to a family member.

“The shared moment where it’s first-time viewed together has largely disappeared.”