• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, June 15, 2005

It's no surprise that simultaneous usage of media is growing with the proliferation of media options, but new research suggests that the attention spans of media users are not necessarily equitably divided among media, and may in fact migrate from dominant to subordinate positions during multitasking. That is the conclusion of a new Simultaneous Media Survey from market researcher BIGresearch.

Highlights of the findings, which were released Tuesday and which will be released in their entirety at the upcoming ARF/ESOMAR Worldwide Audience Measurement Conference, June 22 in Montreal, also indicate that media attention spans don't just compete with other media, but with a variety of other non-media activities.

"It's apparent that multitasking and simultaneous media consumption creates competition for the same time and space [sic] attention," said BIGresearch's Joe Pilotta, who will present the findings along with integrated marketing guru Don Schultz of Northwestern University's Medill School, at the ARF/ESOMAR conference.

"Media may be relegated to the background when consumers multitask e.g. talking on the phone," added, noting, "When they simultaneously consume media, one of the media can morph into the background and back to the foreground intermittently."

The findings are significant for advertisers and agencies planning media, because simultaneous media consumption can change the communications effectiveness of various media during the advertising process.

Not surprisingly, the study also revealed that electronic media - especially online, TV and radio - are most apt to be used in conjunction with other media. Print media are least likely (see data below). BIGresearch's blog will be posting comments on the findings leading up to the conference.

Percent Of People 18+ Who Multitask With Each Medium

  Online          69.3%  Radio           69.0%  TV              68.1%  Mail            49.5%  Newspaper       40.9%  Magazine        40.2%  

Source: BIGresearch's Simultaneous Media Survey.