The number of people multitasking with digital devices while watching TV continues on a tear and consumers are stepping up their cord cutting tendencies as well, eMarketer reports. This year, 182.9 million Americans will use the Internet while watching TV at least once a month, according to eMarketer’s first forecast of simultaneous media usage. That translates to 80.3 percent of Internet users.
Smartphones are said to be the favorite device for multitaskers. The research firms says this year, 146.9 million Americans will browse the web or use Internet-connected apps on their phone (including chat apps) while they watch TV, representing more than two-thirds of Internet users. And 68 percent of U.S. Internet users will utilize an Internet-connected smartphone to do so. By 2018, eMarketer predicts that figure is expected to climb to 79.1 percent, the same year that 91.6 percent of Internet users will use the web and TV at the same time.
As for cord cutting, that number is predicted to grow 15.7 percent, causing the number of pay TV viewers to drop 0.6 percent from last year. That means this year, the US will lose 1.3 million pay TV viewers, the research concludes.
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