Tablet Ownership in the United States

According to the Mojiva study, which was conducted in January and included 1,000 respondents, roughly two-thirds of which were women, tablet adoption is growing at a pace set to exceed that of smartphones. One in four Americans now owns a tablet.

In January 2012, 45 million adults owned tablets. By August, that number was up to 59 million, representing a 32 percent growth rate over eight months. By 2016, said Mojiva, research firm Forrester expects that figure to more than double.

On tablets, consumers react differently to brands and advertising. “To take full advantage of this new channel,” said the report, “brand advertisers need to refine their content to maximize the unique features of tablets, as well as discover how consumers want to be engaged while using them.” A separate NPD study found that while a majority of people watch TV with a second screen, such as a tablet, only a minority are interested in directed, complementary content.

Tablets are being used for tasks that smartphone aren’t; more than anything (63 percent), this is true for watching videos. Hispanics and 18- to 24-year-olds said they were the least likely to differentiate between devices, while those 45 and older said they are most likely to differentiate between devices to perform tasks, such as banking or online shopping.

Tablet users feel differently about different types of ads. Fifty-six percent of respondents said that they’re most likely to tap on a banner ad. Young people and Hispanics (63 and 71 percent, respectively) are the most likely to click on a banner over another type of ad.

Mojiva found that certain ad content categories markedly stood out. The No. 1 category that all demographics said they were most likely to respond to was for food or restaurants. The majority of respondents also preferred offers of discounts over other motivations to click.

If someone has a tablet, he or she very likely also owns a smartphone. Even the demographic with the lowest smartphone ownership—those 45 and older—owned smartphones at a rate higher than the national average.

Forty percent of those surveyed said that, 50 percent of the time, they take their tablets with them when they leave the homes. Nineteen percent said they leave the house with them 75 to 100 percent of time.

Fifty-three percent of people said they spend an hour a day on their tablets; 23 percent said they use their tablets two hours or more each day.

While previous studies showed consumers to be particularly cautious when it came to online tasks involving banking or credit card information, those days are passed. In the current study, 84 percent of folks said they’re comfortable using their tablet for tasks once performed on their PCs, like banking.

More than half of respondents said they plan to buy a new tablet in the next six months. As for brands, Apple was the top choice overall, particularly among women. Men (20 percent versus 9 percent) were more than twice as likely to own a Samsung tablet, while Amazon’s Kindle Fire is a favorite with those 45 and older.

Among those surveyed, 49 percent owned an iPad (5 percent had a Mini), 16 percent had an Amazon Kindle Fire and 13 percent had a Samsung Galaxy tablet.