Tablets, Netflix top list of popular Canadian tech trends

Tablet ownership is growing explosively in Canada, according to a new report on tech trends, which also notes that Netflix continues to sign up new subscribers.

The Media Technology Monitor conducts regular surveys to chart changes in the use of technology in Canada. Its latest report based on a poll from the fall suggests 28 per cent of anglophone Canadians owned a tablet at the time of the survey, more than double the 12 per cent who had one in the fall of 2011 and seven times the 2010 figure. About 60 per cent of those tablet owners had an iPad and almost 20 per cent had an Android device.

About 55 per cent of the anglophone population had a smartphone, which accounted for two-thirds of all cellphone users.

Streaming video

The report backs up Netflix's claim that Canadians are enthusiastically signing up for the video streaming service. According to the survey, 21 per cent of anglophones were Netflix subscribers in the fall, up almost 50 per cent from the spring of 2012.

A number of different digital-viewing habits are growing, according to the report, including watching full-length TV shows online (24 per cent of anglophones do it), watching TV on a smartphone (seven per cent, up from four per cent in 2011) and watching TV on a tablet (six per cent of all surveyed, 22 per cent of tablet owners).

Not many are giving up on conventional TV, although the numbers are growing ever so slightly, the report notes.

The number of anglophone Canadians who only watch TV content online numbered five per cent, up from four per cent in 2011 and three per cent in 2010.

The report is based on surveys of 4,001 anglophones between Oct. 3 and Nov. 24 and is considered accurate within plus or minus 1.5 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

Tech trends have traditionally been adopted more slowly by francophones and that hasn't changed, according to the report.

Tablet ownership was at 17 per cent among francophones, watching TV on a tablet was at four per cent, and smartphone ownership was at 39 per cent.