According to the nationally representative Ipsos MediaCT tech tracker, more than 1 in 10 of the population now has a tablet, ownership being largely driven by younger males.

The “living room” is the most used place highlighting the fact that this is a ‘shared family screen’, often to be used in conjunction with the main shared screen, the TV. Its influence seems so strong that some younger consumers are actually confused by the fact they can’t ‘swipe’ the TV to change content.

or ‘pinch’ a magazine to zoom and interact

All users use their tablet at home, and almost all of them optimise the performance via Wifi in order to get the fastest content, streaming video and younger users playing games. 15% take their tablet on the commute to work, which demonstrates how successful it has been in driving news consumption from traditional hardcopy to a flat screen. 4 in 10 also take their tablet on holiday for those tedious airport waits and relaxing with by the pool.

 

Still, 44% of all tablet users ONLY use it at home. The biggest drivers of portability of tablets out of the home are “screen size” and “speed of connection”. So with imminent releases of several 7’’ mini tablets, and enhanced speeds via 4G next year, we can expect a significant rise in tablets leaving the living room and indeed the front door.

The next Ipsos MediaCT tech tracker report will be released at the end of this week.