Where are people most likely to “second screen” with mobile phones?

The practice of “second screening” – watching TV while using another electronic device – is over a decade old: at this point, near enough as old as smartphones themselves. But how common is it?

Global YouGov data shows that across 17 markets, a majority of consumers say they look at their mobile devices while watching TV “very” or “fairly” often. India (60%), the UAE (57%), and Australia (57%) have the highest proportion of consumers who say they frequently second-screen with smartphones, followed by Americans (55%), Britons (55%), and Danish consumers (55%).

At the other end of the scale, less than a third of the Chinese public (34%) use their phones while watching TV often, with under two in five Germans (37%) saying the same. Germans (13%) are also joint- most likely with Polish consumers (13%) to say they do not second-screen with their mobile devices at all, with Canadian (12%), French (11%), and Italian consumers (11%) close behind.

Second screening with smartphones by age

It might be easy to assume that second-screening with mobile devices is largely driven by young people. Looking at a select few markets reveals a more complicated picture.

It’s true enough that consumers aged 18-34 are more prone to second screen with smartphones than the general population; in Britain (69%), Singapore (62%), and Germany (53%) they are the group most likely to do so often.

But other nations reveal a more complicated picture. In the UAE, for example, 58% of 18-34s are frequently looking at their phones while watching TV – but so are 57% of consumers aged 35-54 and 51% of consumers aged 55 or older. And in Australia, the “middle” group of consumers aged 35-54 are actually more likely to say they often second-screen with mobile devices (72%) compared to the youngest consumers (66%). It’s a comparable story in the United States, where 60% of 35-54s and 59% of 18-34s – as well as 48% of over-55s – are looking at their phones while watching TV.

The stereotype may be that millennials and Gen-Z are phone-addled to the point where they cannot even focus on one distraction at a time. But our data ultimately shows that consumers aged 35-54 are often second-screening with mobile devices in comparable numbers – and in some markets, a significant portion of older consumers are frequently doing so too.

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YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 18 markets with sample sizes varying for each market. All surveys were conducted online in May-June 2023. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.