Research shows that 33% of all male respondents in the US, across age groups, sometimes use a PC simultaneously while watching TV. Among some male age groups the behavior was as high as 50%. In contrast, about 25% of female respondents reported using a PC while watching TV.
One-fifth of all respondents reported doing instant messaging while watching TV.
This fragmented attention is said to represents an important emerging opportunity for the TV industry by enabling channels to instantly connect to their viewers, on both the TV screen and on a laptop computer screen. The question, of course, is do viewers want to be connected or be the ones connecting.