Motorola survey sees social media changing TV viewing

A new study from Motorola’s Mobility unit sees growing integration between TV viewing habits and social media engagement, a finding that reflects well on TV social media widgets currently offered by providers like Verizon Communications and AT&T. It also looks to be an endorsement for even tighter integration of these applications into the TV viewing experience.

Motorola Mobility’s Global 2010 Media Engagement Barometer, comprised of data collected by research firm Vanson Bourne, reflects video-consumption habits among 7,500 consumers surveyed in 13 markets throughout the world (a breakdown of how U.S. consumers responded can be found here).

The barometer’s reading on social media is that 42% of TV viewers have exchanged e-mails, had instant message chats or used a social network to discuss a TV program at the same time they were watching it. Another 22% within this group said multi-tasking via social media is a regular part of their viewing experience. About 61% said would be prepared to pay more for a service that offered capabilities integrating social media with TV content, and about 58% said they might be willing to switch providers to obtain those capabilities.

The integration of social media capabilities has revived and redefined service providers’ interactive TV strategies in recent years. Verizon has been particularly active, adding Facebook, Twitter and YouTube widgets to its FiOS TV offering.

That consumers may be willing to pay more for content integrated with social media perhaps should not come as a surprise, given another piece of data from the Media Engagement Barometer: The most preferred TV services among consumers are subscription-only (pay) services, even in markets where free-to-air content is more readily available. That finding could not appear to be more strategically-timed, given recent reports about the growth of pay TV cord-cutting, a trend some pay TV operators have down-played.

Among other findings, 75% of those surveyed said they either own or plan to own an HDTV in the next 18 months, and 25% said they expect to upgrade to 3D-enabled TVs in the same timeframe. Again, the timing of that finding is significant: Recent research suggested that while HDTV growth continues, a large numbers of consumers still are not watching HD content. Also, expectations for 3DTV adoption may be lowering somewhat amid recent backlash about the technology and equipment pricing.

The Motorola research also found that shopping via TV is of interest to 42 % of viewers globally.