Matthew
15-01-04, 03:26 AM
Surfers switch off TV for PC's
Surfers now spend more time online than watching TV
**
Web users are swapping Gardener's World for Google and Coronation Street for Friends Reunited, according to research that shows the amount of time they spend on the internet is outstripping the time they spend watching television for the first time.
The results of the NOP survey, which shows web users now spend more time surfing the internet than they do watching television, will make grim reading for TV advertising sales chiefs pondering the decline of the medium.
On average, internet users spend three and a half hours a day on the internet compared with 2.8 hours a day watching television.
The research, which is the first to suggest the internet has overtaken the television as the most popular medium among people who have both, will provide further grist to the mill of those who argue the web will eventually spell the end of linear television.
The survey also showed 44% of those surveyed believed the internet rather than TV provided better news and entertainment than television, despite the relative youth of the web as a medium.
"The results of this survey demonstrate to what extent the internet has developed in a relatively short period of time," said Duncan Ingram, the managing director of BT Openworld, which commissioned the survey.
"Given the breadth of information the net holds, it's little surprise that users are flocking to the PC as their prime source of information... when you're online the possibilities are endless," he added.
The results chime with predictions within the TV industry. At a recent conference, broadcasting executives forecast traditional TV schedules would be usurped by the growth of broadband and interactive technology and switch off adverts altogether.
Already, Sky and the BBC are investing heavily in broadband technology to ensure they can cope with the expected changes to the broadcasting ecology.
The BBC's website is the most visited in Europe and features an increasing amount of video content, while BSkyB has launched both news and sport subscriber-only broadband portals on the web.
Last week the BBC director of new media, Ashley Highfield, unveiled plans for a BBC branded interactive media player that will sit on users' desktops and allow them to tap into any BBC programme from the past 14 days.
And the corporation's director general, Greg Dyke, has announced parallel plans for an online programme archive that would contain thousands of hours of old BBC shows.
The new statistics will also put further pressure on online sales operations to convince advertisers they should devote more of their marketing budgets to new media. At present the web takes just 1% of the £116bn spent annually on advertising in the UK, placing it well behind radio, newspapers, magazines and television.
Source. (http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1062261,00.html)
Interesting - I have to admit I read more News on the Internet than I watch the majority of the time, on the TV.
What about the NFHiB Forum in particular, does that make you have more or less time for TV? :D
Surfers now spend more time online than watching TV
**
Web users are swapping Gardener's World for Google and Coronation Street for Friends Reunited, according to research that shows the amount of time they spend on the internet is outstripping the time they spend watching television for the first time.
The results of the NOP survey, which shows web users now spend more time surfing the internet than they do watching television, will make grim reading for TV advertising sales chiefs pondering the decline of the medium.
On average, internet users spend three and a half hours a day on the internet compared with 2.8 hours a day watching television.
The research, which is the first to suggest the internet has overtaken the television as the most popular medium among people who have both, will provide further grist to the mill of those who argue the web will eventually spell the end of linear television.
The survey also showed 44% of those surveyed believed the internet rather than TV provided better news and entertainment than television, despite the relative youth of the web as a medium.
"The results of this survey demonstrate to what extent the internet has developed in a relatively short period of time," said Duncan Ingram, the managing director of BT Openworld, which commissioned the survey.
"Given the breadth of information the net holds, it's little surprise that users are flocking to the PC as their prime source of information... when you're online the possibilities are endless," he added.
The results chime with predictions within the TV industry. At a recent conference, broadcasting executives forecast traditional TV schedules would be usurped by the growth of broadband and interactive technology and switch off adverts altogether.
Already, Sky and the BBC are investing heavily in broadband technology to ensure they can cope with the expected changes to the broadcasting ecology.
The BBC's website is the most visited in Europe and features an increasing amount of video content, while BSkyB has launched both news and sport subscriber-only broadband portals on the web.
Last week the BBC director of new media, Ashley Highfield, unveiled plans for a BBC branded interactive media player that will sit on users' desktops and allow them to tap into any BBC programme from the past 14 days.
And the corporation's director general, Greg Dyke, has announced parallel plans for an online programme archive that would contain thousands of hours of old BBC shows.
The new statistics will also put further pressure on online sales operations to convince advertisers they should devote more of their marketing budgets to new media. At present the web takes just 1% of the £116bn spent annually on advertising in the UK, placing it well behind radio, newspapers, magazines and television.
Source. (http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1062261,00.html)
Interesting - I have to admit I read more News on the Internet than I watch the majority of the time, on the TV.
What about the NFHiB Forum in particular, does that make you have more or less time for TV? :D