Posted on February 22, 2008
Internet Wins Media Popularity Contest
BY JENNIFER EUBANKS
Jordan McCollum over at Marketing Pilgrim blogged today about a study that indicates that people spend more time online than watching television or reading newspaper and magazines. This study surveyed Americans 15 years of age and older and indicated that people averaged 32.7 hours a week online and only 16.4 hours watching TV.
As someone who loves the internet and spends her entire workday attached to it, the fact that internet is twice as popular as television is no surprise to me--especially considering that the age of people survey went down as low as 15. Younger people tend to be more tech savvy in general and therefore more likely to use internet and other new media as opposed to, say, reading a print newspaper.
As Jordan points out in her post, however, there are questions as to whether internet is truly twice as popular as television. For instance, are people watching TV and surfing the internet at the same time? I know that I often watch TV and chat online simultaneously. Although I have a Tivo, there are times when shows have not been recorded and I've had to watch the episodes online. Does this count as television or internet or both, according to the survey?
Ms. McCollum also notes that there is no distinction between whether these media are being consumed only during leisure time, or other times as well. I would bet that most people surveyed would include work internet use when asked how much time they spend online during the week.
One conclusion from the survey is that "consumers tend to use the media they grew up with." Thus, younger people are more likely to use the internet, and older people are more likely to turn to TV and print media. Although this is an unsurprising find, it does interest me to see how people of different age groups adapt to new medias and how quickly they embrace them (if at all). Although the internet is quickly taking over as a new media source, it is also taking over the old medias such as print, television, and radio. With the ability to get all forms of media online, it is no wonder that the internet beats its other media competitors by such a high margin.
