October 2012

Emi Morofuji

In an effort to clarify the actual conditions of time-shift viewing, in which viewers record TV programs and watch them later, and of the Internet usage on personal computers and mobile phones, the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute conducted “Time Use Survey on the Media Use” on March 4th (Sunday) and 5th (Monday), 2012. The author reports the findings of the survey in two installments. The first part features the present state of time-shift viewing that is spreading among the public owing to the penetration of hard disk recorders .The key results of the survey include the following.

1. The percentages of “time-shift” viewers were 17% on Monday and 22% on Sunday with overall average viewing time　of 19 minutes on Monday and 28 minutes on Sunday; both the percentages and viewing time were lower than those for “real-time” viewers.
2. In terms of viewing time, the proportion of “real-time” to “time-shift” was 9 to 1. Most of the “time-shift” viewers also watched TV programs by "real-time"　viewing　while 3% watched them only by "time-shift."
3. As to when “time-shift” viewing occurs during a day, a modest peak was observed between 9 to 10 PM both on Monday and Sunday. The percentage of “time-shift” was relatively high in the daytime on Sunday, and women in their 40s watch television equally by “time-shift” and “real-time” viewing in a certain time slot in the Sunday afternoon.
4. There was almost no “time-shift” viewing time when respondents were “away from home.” The proportion of “non-concentrated” viewing (watching TV while doing something else) was almost 30% of the total “time-shift” viewing time, a little smaller than the proportion of "non-concentrated viewing" of the total “real-time” viewing time.

The NHK Monthly Report on Broadcast Research