• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 23, 2012

Nice way of summing up the intro to the “TV Squared” panel at OMMA Tablet this morning by the show’s chair, Steve Smith.

Actually, based on the way IPSOS MediaCT’s Mark McLaren fielded the opening question, it’s not replacing TV’s primacy time, but is increasingly complementing it, but in very different ways than linear TV viewing.

“Going online while viewing television, we have about 70% of tablet owners doing that behavior,” he said, noting that 28% of those users were doing it in the last day alone.

“Once people are online, tablet owners are more likely to go to websites that are related to the content they are seeing or the advertising they are seeing,” McLaren shared.

And that “companion” tablet content is not just complementing or competing with television’s, it’s also vying for time with other applications and experiences people can experience on their tablet computers while they are watching television.

“Email is almost consistently the top activity,” McLaren said of the tablet’s media cohort effect. “Social media is second.”