While tablets remain popular in Canada, their growth rate has slowed in the past year according to a comprehensive new report from Media Technology Monitor (MTM) called How is the Tablet Landscape Changing?
Who owns tablets?
Just over half (53%) of Anglophone Canadians aged 18 and over currently own a tablet, which the MTM report said represents only a “slight increase” from 51% a year ago.
Tablet ownership is most prevalent among adults 35-49, with 64% of Anglophones in this demographic owning a tablet, ahead of adults 50-64 (54%), and adults 18-34 (53%).
Not surprisingly, tablet ownership is more prevalent among higher-income households, with 78% of people in households with an annual income between $150,000 and $199,000 owning a tablet device. However, nearly three quarters of households (72%) with children under the age of 12 and nearly two thirds of households (64%) with teens have tablets.
While three of every five tablets are Apple products, the MTM report says the Samsung Galaxy Tab has emerged as a “strong competitor” in the market, boasting a 22% share. Apple and Samsung tablet owners are also likely to purchase other products, most notably smartphones, made by their respective manufacturers.
Tablet owners also tend to adopt other forms of technology, with nearly one in six currently owning some form of wearable technology such as an Apple Watch or FitBit.
How are they used?
Search (56% of tablet owners), checking the weather (41%) and accessing a map/playing a game (34%) remain the most popular tablet activities, while 30% of owners have used their device to create online content – defined as posting photos, uploading video, commenting on a news story or article, writing a review or posting on a blog.
Online video is also a significant activity for tablet owners, with nearly two thirds (63%) saying they watch the likes of Netflix or YouTube via their device. That is up from 57% in spring 2014.
Approximately one fifth of tablet owners (22%) watch Netflix via their tablet, while nearly two in five (38%) use their device to stream audio from sources such as YouTube, streaming services or podcasts.
Tablet owners report spending more than three hours per week online than the typical Anglophone (23.6 hours versus 21), and less time with traditional media sources such as TV and radio.
Approximately 60% of tablet owners use their device to multi-task, although the smartphone remains the most popular multi-tasking device among this group.
Nearly half (49%) of tablet owners engage in social media activity via their tablet, with 78% of that segment using Facebook. The study also found that 48% send or receive e-mails via their tablet, while more than a quarter (26%) have sent or received a text message.
TV and tablets
The report also suggests a natural synergy between TV and tablets, with owners 13% more likely to be so-called “Social TV viewers” than the general Anglophone population.
Nearly half (46%) of tablet owners have looked up TV content online while watching, while 27% have liked a TV show on Facebook and 21% have used Facebook to chat about or comment on a TV show. Ten per cent of tablet owners have commented on a Facebook page dedicated to a specific program.
The findings are based on an online survey of 4,003 Anglophones 18+, and are considered accurate within plus or minus 1.5% 19 times out of 20.
