Smartphones to Blame for Low Commercial Viewership

It's not DVRs that advertisers have to worry about, but alternate entertainment sources.

A new study from IPG Media Lab and YuM has found that it isn't the DVR or even channel surfing that advertisers have to fear. The biggest threat to keeping eyes on advertisements is the increasingly popular smartphone.

The study tracked 48 adults who were asked to watch 30 minutes of TV in a living room style setup and 30 minutes of TV in an office-like environment. They watched content that they'd normally watch and were asked to bring whatever devices they normally have handy when watching television.

It was found in the study that more people turned their heads away from the screen to use their smartphones than anything else. Those fast forwarding content with a DVR may have skipped through the ads, but they kept watching the screen during that time. Those using smartphones simply turned away and tuned out.

Source: Ad Age (via Engadget