'Glued to the screen' could be the perfect description for our global society today.
A new study from Motorola has found not only a significant increase in the consumption of video around the world, but a shift in the way video is being consumed.
According to the study, people are on average spending the equivalent of one day a week watching video content.
Among the 9,500 consumers surveyed across 17 countries, an average of 25 hours was spent each week watching TV programming and film content.
Television remains extremely popular, with the average consumer indulging in 19 hours of TV content a week – up from 10 hours in 2011. Six hours of movie content is consumed a week, up from 5 hours two years ago.
The US sees the highest consumption, with 23 hours of TV and six hours of movies watched each week.
The lowest TV consumption can be found in Japan, with just two hours a week on average.
The study found that recording is "now a constant of the content experience", with almost a third (29%) of weekly TV viewing being recorded content. Almost another third of recorded content though is never watched.
Although the living room remains the epicentre of video viewing in the home, the increasing availability of laptops, tablets and smartphones has made the "multi-screen home" a reality.
Smartphones and tablets are becoming the platform of choice for broadcast TV consumption in the bedroom – 46% and 41% respectively against 36% using the conventional TV.
Tablet users tend to spend more time watching films each week – 6.7 hours versus the average of 5.5 among non-tablet owners.
They are also more likely than non-tablet owners to use a service provider's TV catch-up service (47% versus 31%). More than three-quarters (80%) of a tablet user's content is recorded, versus 65% among non-tablet users.
But it's not quite the death knell for live TV. The study found that there is still a large appetite globally for live news, which is watched by 73% as it airs.
When it comes to interacting, the poll found that younger audiences are more likely to engage with programming via social media.
Overall, the study found that half do not follow social media conversations about a TV programme as it airs. In some countries there has been a decline in this kind of engagement in recent years - down in the UK from 39% in 2010 to 24% in 2012, and in the US from 32% to 23%.
Among 16 to 24-year-olds, however, 60% were found to follow social media conversations during programmes.
Despite this, 78% overall said they would be interested in linking their social network profile to a TV service to share what they are watching and increase online, real-time discussion.
John Burke, of Motorola Mobility, said: "This year's study shows us that consumers take their viewing experiences very seriously.
"They want to be firmly in control of the way they experience their videos, but they're frustrated.
"Increasingly, they're using tablets and smartphones to view their content, and they expect this experience to transition seamlessly across their favourite programmes, whenever and wherever they like."
