is TV advertising dead?

Did you know that households now spend more time on the internet than watching TV?

Over half of UK households (56%) spend more time on the internet (including streaming) than watching TV, up from 49% in 2016, the results from EY’s latest annual digital home survey, Decoding the Digital Home, of 2,500 UK consumers revealed. This is the first time that the internet has overtaken television to grab the largest share of household attention in the survey.

Furthermore, 45% of households think the internet is very important in terms of working or running a business from home, up from 41% in 2016, a reminder that the modern household’s reliance on home connectivity now goes far beyond entertainment. In addition, half of households (49%) surveyed are now familiar with the features and benefits of smart home products, a sign that the latest forms of technology are also becoming more mainstream.

Despite the reliance on the internet for work and entertainment at home, many households are suffering from digital fatigue. More than four in ten consumers (41%) actively seek time away from their smartphones and other internet-enabled devices. This figure increases for 18-25 year olds (45%) and 25-34 year olds (50%), according to the survey’s results.

There is also evidence that consumers are now less excited about new gadgets than before. Only 29% of households agreed that they were ‘very interested in new gadgets and tended to purchase them before everybody else’, down from 34% in 2016.

Consumers also have increasing concerns over data privacy and security. Nearly three quarters of households (71%) are cautious about disclosing personal and financial information over the internet, even when using a site they know and trust. Despite improvements in online security over the years, this figure is up from 61% in 2016 and 52% in 2013. These concerns mean that instead of embracing the new, consumers are sticking with the safe, according to EY’s analysis. In 2017, 38% of consumers surveyed said they only ever use a small number of familiar websites up from 30% in 2016.