Brits go online while watching TV. Duh.

I don’t know about you but if I ever watch TV I really just can’t sit there without having a laptop open. It would just be so boring otherwise. I love reading plots for films on Wikipedia instead of having to sit through the whole thing. Yes, I’m odd like that.

So I am not surprised that the image of passive TV viewer is fading fast, with much of the population going online while watching TV, according to research by AIM-listed video search engine Blinkx. Harris Interactive fielded the online survey on behalf of blinkx among a nationwide cross-sections of over 2,000 adults in Great Britain.

The research showed that nearly 70 percent of online British adults who watch television go online while doing so, with 21 percent of 16-24 year olds always using the Internet while watching TV. And more adults who surf the web for content related to what they’re watching on TV are at the same time searching for products which appeared in the show (30 percent) than for the products which were advertised between the shows (27 percent).

And guess what. People are watching film, TV shows and sporting events online, with 19 percent of all online adults typically watching such content online. Who knew.

News (27 percent) and comedy (22 percent) lead the way for the types of video and television content being watched online

We are also multitasking to the max. Nearly 70 percent of online British adults who watch TV go online when watching television at some point, with 21 percent of 16-24 year olds always going online while watching TV.