Intersperience to use Olympics as test lab to monitor digital media use

The research will see cameras installed in 20 homes to monitor how consumers follow the action on a variety of technology platforms – including tablets, smartphones, laptops and TVs (including internet-enabled sets). It will also involve in-depth interviews with family members with an emphasis on lifestyle and household dynamics to augment the video footage and add context.

Participants in the project will keep a ‘mobile media diary’ recording their use of digital media with the aid of Intersperience’s location-based diary app, taking the project out of people’s homes and ‘following’ them as they go about their lives.

In addition, Intersperience will recruit a 300-strong online community to report how they are watching the Olympics and test findings across a wider base of consumers.

Paul Hudson, Intersperience chief executive, said the Olympics create “the perfect conditions for a unique ‘live testing lab’ designed to deliver fresh insight into how consumers interact with digital technology on a daily basis”.

“This research project is not about the Olympics per se – it is about using the behavioural insights we gather to identify the rate of adoption of new devices and explain how people are using them.”