While smartphones and tablets get all the attention in technology, the television is still the technology with the most global users, at 5.5 billion.
Source: Global Internet Trends 2014.
Yet, while TV still reigns supreme in terms of total users, trends are shifting away from it. These trends could benefit major online companies like Facebook (FB 1.18%) and Netflix (NFLX 0.91%).
In the video below, Motley Fool tech analyst Eric Bleeker and Max Macaluso discuss how, especially in developed countries with high advertising budgets to television, consumers are shifting viewing habits to mobile devices like tablets and smartphones. Also, their attention is increasingly split between not just TV, but a mobile device they're using while their television is on.
With advertising in television still comprising 45% of total United States ad spend, Eric notes this is an opportunity for two main groups. First, companies that benefit from a general shift of advertising dollars toward mobile, such as Facebook, are benefiting as mobile is increasingly used in conjunction with watching television. Facebook's overall revenue has already rapidly shifted mobile, helping fuel an 81% increase in the amount of revenue it makes per user over the past two years.
Second, video companies that translate well to mobile and were first movers in the space, such as Netflix (NFLX 0.91%), have tailwinds at their back as consumers no longer think of the television set as the center of their entertainment world, but shift to having multiple devices to serve video.
To see Eric and Max's full discussion on some future trends in television, watch the video below.
