September 28th, 2023, Lesley Simeon
A recent YouGov survey that delves into our tendency to check mobile phones asked consumers across 18 international markets how frequently they do so in a variety of situations like when socializing at a bar or on a date. In this piece, we discuss whether consumers check their phones while at a sporting event, at the cinema and at a concert or show.
Consumers are least likely to check their phones frequently at a cinema, data shows. A little over one in ten (11%) of consumers do so.
They are most likely to check their phones often while in bed before going to sleep (56%). Just over half of the consumers surveyed (51%) check their phones often while on public transport and half of them (50%) do so while watching TV.
Less than two in ten (19%) consumers check their phones frequently while at a sporting event and 14% of them glance at their screens while at a concert or show.
Further, among those who check their phones often “very often” or “fairly often” while at a concert, a sporting event or in the cinema, men are more likely than women to do so. For example, nearly a quarter of men (22%) take to their mobile phones at a sporting event but the proportion of women who are likely to follow suit stands six percentage points lower at 16%.
By country, we now look at how likely consumers are to check their phones when at a concert, sporting event or in the cinema.
UAE and Urban India lead with the largest proportion of consumers who check their phones at the cinema, sporting events or concerts
Over two in five consumers in both India (40%) and UAE (41%) glance at their mobile screens often at sporting events, while the figures for when consumers are at a concert or show are at 38% and 33% for UAE and India, respectively. When in the cinema, more than a third (34%) of consumers in the UAE and a third (33%) of consumers in India take to their phones often.
On the other hand, consumers in Great Britain and Denmark don’t jump to check their phones often when at the cinema or a concert. Both the markets account for the least proportion of consumers who check their phones often at a concert or a show (8% in Great Britain and 7% in Denmark) or at the cinema (4% each in Great Britain and Denmark).
At 12% each, Poland joins Denmark and Great Britain to account for consumers who are least likely to check their phones at a sporting event.
The US is among markets whose consumers are less likely to check their phones when at an outdoors event - 14% do so at a sporting event, 9% at a concert or show and 6% while in the cinema.
Asia
More than a quarter (28%) of consumers in Indonesia check their phones when at a concert or a show, while just a little over one in ten (11%) of them take their mobiles out while at the cinema. Singaporeans are the least likely in our Asian markets to go through their phones when out at such places (9% while at a concert or show, 7% while in the cinema).
Europe
Compared to their Asian counterparts, consumers in Europe are less likely to check their phones when at an outdoor event or show. Sporting events are where they check their phones most often. France is the only market in this region that reports double figures across all three situations - cinema (10%), concert (13%) and sporting event (16%). Consumers in Italy are least likely in Europe to check their phones at a concert (8%) or in the cinema (6%). Interestingly, nearly two in ten (18%) of consumers here frequently check their phones at a sporting event - the largest share of consumers to do so in Europe.
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Methodology: 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 between 512 and 2005 or each market. All surveys were conducted online in April 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.
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