Across five countries in Southeast Asia, more than eight in 10 smartphone owners use their smartphone in conjunction with TV viewing at least sometimes. While the largest share of smartphone activites were program-related, there was also a solid amount of ad-related activity reported.
According to July 2015 polling by Epinion and Omnicom Media Group, 7% of smartphone users in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam do not watch TV. Another 11% never use their mobile devices while watching. The rest?including a high of 87% in Thailand and a low of 76% in Indonesia?simultaneously use their smartphone while watching TV at least once in a while.
Overall, 47% of respondents reported that this activity primarily involved them looking something up on their phone related to the program they were watching. That accounted for a plurality of those polled, but a robust 28% of respondents said they mostly used the phone for purposes related to the ads they saw on TV. The remainder were primarily using their phones for purposes unrelated to what they were watching.
Nearly half of respondents who conducted ad-related activities (47%) said they searched for a brand or product, while 36% shared brands or products with friends and 17% responded directly to brands.
Two-thirds of respondents said they shared or searched for info about ads because they saw a new product or brand, or because there was a promotion or sale going on. Humor helped as well, along with unique product claims.
