Man’s Best Friend – Tablets

When they say millions served, those of you over 40 know what I’m talking about. Now when I say billions served those of you over 25 know what I’m talking about. Mickey D’s made these statements famous.

Now, the Apple iPad was launched and tens of millions have been sold. According to About.com it seems that by the end of 2012 there were over 84 Billion sold.

These are big numbers and the growth continues, it seems that by August 2012 almost 40% of households in America had not ONE but TWO tablets. While 18% had 3 and 8% had 4 tablets.

I’m going to punch out a variety of Tablet related stats to give you some perspective on what’s going on out there.

• 90% use their tablet while doing other things
• 40% of tablet time is combined with other activities
• 63% use their tablet while watching TV

People also use their tablets while they eat, talk to others, talk on their smartphone, while on a laptop, white listening to the radio, cooking, travelling, shopping, exercising, playing video games and reading hard copy magazines, books and even the newspaper. The study didn’t mention sex, but here is an article about use in the bedroom.

When we say there is an app for that, we’re not kidding; we can count Sex Calories for only $1.99.

Amazingly, yet there are more stats, many more as to why tablets are man’s best friend:

• 82% say tablet makes multitasking easy
• 81% enjoy multitasking

And speaking of Multitasking…

• 60% do so between 5- 8 pm
• 44% do so between 9 – 11 pm
• 80% multitask from home
• 19% multitask from work

Has marketing changed, how are you spending your ad dollars? If not, this might help you change your mind. A high percentage of Tablet owners are Two Screen viewers. Now we are talking about 63% of this group, and this group is growing. The total amount of TV time that is devoted to Two Screen view crosses all user demographics. (i.e. your customers).

• 42% are female
• 40% are male
• 46% Millennial
• 41% Gen Xers
• 37% Boomers

Exactly what are these multitaskers doing?

Email, unrelated websites, video games, downloading apps, reading digital mags or eBooks, texting, viewing another video. Heck adding insult to injury, the tablet is now the remote control for 11% of users.

A study prepared by “GfK MRI iPanel” in 2012 asked the question “How interested are tablet owners in advertisements appearing within apps on their device?” The vast majority were interested – 56% overall in fact. The focus was primarily (now get this) shopping, that’s right shopping. So, a few questions,  “Exactly where are you spending your advertising dollars?”  “Have you reviewed your digital strategy?” “Are your website and landing pages now mobile friendly with responsive design?” “Is your marketing changing to keep pace with this major shift in time usage?”

Now to wrap this up, consumers have positive feelings towards their tablets, here’s how positive.

• 75% say the tablet has filled a gap in their lifestyle
• 72% say they consume more media
• 47% say they access media that can’t be found on another device

I don’t think we need to spend much time providing you reasons that you need to get your advertising game on – it’s pretty clear. This mobile and tablet thing is moving at unprecedented rates and we are only scratching the surface. (no not the Microsoft Surface). This growth will continue, as smartphone and tablet development continues, you can be sure that larger screens, faster service and less expensive data plans will push this process even faster.

Move over Rover (Fido, Spot, Snoopy, Benji, Clifford) you’ve been replaced as Man’s and Women’s Best Friend.

Michael Bickerton, Raven5 Ltd, Oakville, Ontario October 2013

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