• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, April 11, 2004

Completed in the Fall of 2003, the BIGresearch SIMM Survey provides interesting insights not only into "the fact of" multiple media usage, but what they're doing in each case. The survey shows that over 70% of consumers, at one time or another, use media simultaneously. The study poses the ultimate challenge for media companies and marketers...who's paying attention to what?

Here are some ways consumers multitask when using various media.

When listening to radio, 57.3% simultaneously go online, 46.9% read newspaper and 17.7% watch TV. 51.2% of radio listening multitaskers say they pay more attention to one medium more than the other. Newspapers are a TV watcher's best friend, as 74.2% of people who watch TV regularly or occasionally read the newspaper simultaneously. 66.2% say they go online and that documentaries are the preferred TV programming for those who watch TV and go online simultaneously. Documentaries lend themselves to listening, perfect for the simultaneous media using TV watcher.

Movies are the preferred programming for 64.3% of the people who read newspapers and watch TV, followed by 56% watching police detective shows and 51.5% watching situation comedies. The 18-34 year old television viewers are playing video games while watching TV.

Listening activities seem most agreeable to newspaper readers as 52.4% say they watch TV and 49.6% say they listen to the radio when reading the newspaper. Likewise, 52.4% of women and 49.6% of men prefer reading the newspaper and listening to the radio simultaneously.

When waiting to download something online, 52.1% say they listen to a favorite tune or talk radio. 61.8% say they watch TV, 20.2% read the newspaper.

You can find out more here.