American television viewers want their TVs to do more -- including provide more info on advertisers' products and services.
That's according to a survey of about 500 TV viewers commissioned by FourthWall Media, a developer of interactive TV applications and advertising solutions. Overall, 89% of respondents expressed interest in using interactive TV applications on their home televisions, with 48% saying they are "very interested."
Meanwhile, about 73% would be interested in an application that allows them to request additional information about a company or product after watching a commercial -- with women particularly indicating strong desire to interact more with the TV spots.
"This survey reveals that TV watchers -- men, women, young, old -- from all across the country are excited about interactive television," Ellen Dudar, FourthWall's chief product officer and co-founder, said in a statement.
Other findings from the survey:
* Only 20% feel their TVs are "personalized" to their own needs and tastes, compared with 81% who said their personal computers are.
* Of the 82% of TV viewers who say they surf the Internet on PCs while also watching TV, 31% said they would spend less time using computers if they had access to these applications on TV.
* The top three apps that TV viewers said they were "very interested" in were an interactive weather application (52%), followed by local news and information (47%) and caller ID on TV (44%).
* The highest proportion of respondents (37%) said they would use a Yellow Pages on TV app to look up the phone number of a restaurant to make a dinner reservation, compared with 34% who said they would use the Web.
* Women, especially those over 30, were among the most interested in interactive TV applications, as 57% of females surveyed "strongly agree" that these applications make television watching more convenient.
The survey was fielded in April 2010 by WPP Group's Penn Schoen Berland research subsidiary, which polled 500 TV viewers between the ages of 13 and 65. The survey had a margin of error of 4.38%.
