Most tablet owners use them while watching TV

Own a tablet? We bet you read, watch, and play while you’re sitting on the sofa watching the TV. If you do, don’t worry, you aren’t alone. A recent survey in the US found that a whopping 85 per cent of US tablet owners use their tablets while also watching TV.

Market research firm Forrester has also found that tablet users are not only embracing the living room as the new place to consume content, but also that the tablet is starting to replace the TV. 

Citing other data from a recent report by Nielsen, the two Forrester analysts Annie Corbet and Sarah Rotman, who wrote the report, found 30 per cent of total tablet time was spent while watching TV.

It is not just laptops and computers tablets are replacing, either. Tablets are displacing small TVs as well, the report finds, with 32 per cent of tablet owners saying they won’t buy a small (less than 24-inch) TV in the future, compared with only 7 per cent who say the same about large TVs. 

“As much as Samsung and others have promoted 'Smart TVs,' the reality is that consumers with tablets think their tablets are even smarter, and at least some of the time prefer to watch the content from their small device on the big screen,” writes Rotman. 

Apple will no doubt like to hear that the report also finds that 18 per cent of people questioned connect their tablets to their TVs via HDMI or VGA cables, suggesting there is a market for the Apple TV after all.