Bridging the television exposure and attention divide

Television is so deeply embedded in the routines of everyday life that the viewers’ attention to it can vary. Most studies on television assume that exposure; time spent watching television, as an unproblematic measure of viewership. In particular, effects studies fail to make a distinction between exposure and attention. The degree of attention audience pay to television is a key variable mediating television effects. Operationally attention could be defined as various distracting activities audience engage in while viewing television. This study attempts to find out the relationship between time spend with the television and engagement in distracting activities by the viewers. The study has adopted a survey method to understand this relationship. A sample of 600 respondents were analysed for this study. This study revealed that the viewers who spend a lot of time with television engage in distracting activities more than viewers who spend little time in front of the television. This study indicates that giving time to television might not necessarily mean that the viewers would give attention to television, a simple fact often overlooked in audience research.