JOURNAL OF CONSUMER MARKETING 4 Introduction I don’t think people actually sit down and watch TV anymore. They just have it on, and whatever gets their attention, they stick to it. Focus group quotation Television is a medium of the future, with seemingly endless outreach possibilities as new interactive capabilities are introduced throughout the technological world. Viewers face increasing choices on the information superhighway; yet, the process of how they watch television has not been thoroughly studied. Do viewers really “view” television, or do they use it as background noise or a “babysitter” for their children? Do they scan it occasionally, or instead use it for security when no one is at home? The television viewer of the present is neither understood nor studied in the context of the variety of multiple activities which generally accompany typical viewers’ experience. Advertisers lament the overwhelming commercial “clutter” which pervades the airwaves, as numerous advertisements, “infomercials”, and mini-series type messages compete for viewers’ attention (Flint, 1991). They realize that many things in the home also compete for their audience’s attention. In this article, the authors report on in- depth interviews with major advertising agencies concerning the realities of viewer behavior. Though the agency executives were familiar with the situational clutter which viewers experience in their own homes, they felt that the effects of such informational and activity saturation are still under-researched. Representatives from various agencies consistently mentioned their concern that advertising is often available in the context of multiple activities. Consumers are likely to be doing other things, such as playing with their children, eating their meals or reading the newspaper, while watching TV. Agencies are concerned that their ads must not only “cut through the clutter” of other programming, but also cut through the clutter at home, as viewers’ attention becomes divided. As a result of those questions, our goal in the study reported here was to investigate the process of using one advertising medium, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 11 No. 4, 1994, pp. 4-17 © MCB University Press, 0736-3761 In Pursuit of the Nomadic Viewer Carol Felker Kaufman and Paul M. Lane The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support and consultation provided by Kolon, Bittker, and Desmond, Inc., of Detroit, Michigan, who sponsored this research, as part of the Western Michigan University/KBD Study. We would also like to thank the respondent agency interviewees for sharing their time and professional expertise; and the consumer analysis students, whose efforts, constructive criticism, and insight provided the information presented in this article.