Recently is has become clear that two strong consumer trends are starting to merge, which might have a major impact on TV advertising.

A survey in the UK found that over 50% of consumers browse the internet at the same time as watching TV.

At the same time, increasingly tablet devices such as the iPad are becoming the home shopping platform of choice.

A recent survey of 4,000 UK consumers TV habits, conducted by Deloitte and GfK, has found a strong growth in simultaneous TV/Internet watching, with over 50% of consumers browsing the Internet at the same time as watching TV. This compares to only 39% in 2010.

The survey also found that shopping is one of the most popular online activities among those who browse the Internet, with 45% of those polled reported e-shopping while watching TV.

One final statistic from the study is that fully 13% of the respondents plan to buy a tablet in the next year.

Clearly this combination sets the stage for these tablet devices to become the purchase mechanism for the products being advertised on TV.

For 18 to 25 years olds, discovering a product or service on TV is currently rated as the third most powerful purchase influence. The study found the following were the strongest purchase influences on this group:

These were all much higher than social media influencers, with Facebook only reporte by 3%, and Twitter by 2%.

Jolyon Barker, global lead for Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) at Deloitte, made a number of insightful comments on these trends:

• “The television industry should consider how best to react to this opportunity. Taking a share of the transaction value may precipitate an undesired wholesale shift to commission-based advertising. Given television’s role in brand-building, such a move could be counter-productive. Making programmes that are perceived as too overtly created to sell merchandise may trigger a viewer backlash.”
• “Television, via a programme or an advert, can provide the impulse for a purchase. This year more consumers will buy tablets, connected and browser-equipped devices, which can work as digital tills sitting on viewers’ laps.”
• One option (for retailers) might be to update the home page of their websites to reflect what they know is being advertised on television at a certain time, if a certain dress is being advertised at a certain time then the retailer should feature it on the homepage at the same time to assist an easy conversion to sale.”
• “broadcasters … would need to up their game significantly in terms of monitoring the online response to their programmes and adverts, and utilising this rich data.”

Whatever happens in this interesting space, he concludes, “the reality is that television is highly persuasive, multi-channel retail is vibrant, and the TV sector should always be open to new revenue opportunities.”