Smartphones are the new TV in Spain


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Juan Fernandez Gonzalez

| 11 April 2016




While other connected devices such as tablets and smart TVs aren’t that popular among Spaniards, smartphones are conquering video consumption, both as the main and second screen, at home and on-the-go.


smartphoneThe Televidente 2.0 report, published by The Cocktail Analysis, shows that faster mobile connections – 53% of smartphones owners have access to 4G – as well as greater downloading capabilities – 74% have monthly data plans with more than 1GB – are making smartphones kings of video consumption, especially among millennials and the Z generation.

As mobile devices, smartphones are widely used for watching video on-the-go, but eight in ten smartphone users also play videos at home. Indeed, almost half of owners admit to watching video through smartphones at home even though the TV is available.

Watching any kind of video on smartphone screens is a regular habit among Spaniards, but mobile devices are particularly used for short-form YouTube-like videos. Short news and music videos are the most watched audiovisual pieces on smartphones, but almost one in two users also watch series, movies and live sports programming.

Among platforms, YouTube still comes top, regularly used by 87% of smartphone owners, followed by Atresmedia’s free-to-air video-on-demand (VOD) service Atresplayer, and RTVE’s á-la-carte app.

However, the use of tablets seems to have stagnated during recent years, according to the report, and smart TVs, although more connected than ever, are still mainly used for watching linear programming.

Smartphones have become so popular that most owners can’t put them down while watching TV. Over 70% say they use their smartphones regularly while in front of the TV, and 21% say they do this sometimes. In addition, around 70% have, at some point, used social media to comment on what they are watching.

According to the report, the trend that smartphones are now used for every aspect of video and TV consumption is clear, and has been previously highlighted in other analyses.