Web 'will take up bigger chunk'
2007-08-08 09:30
New York - US consumers this year
will spend more of their day surfing the internet than reading
newspapers or going to the movies or listening to recorded
music, according a study released on Tuesday.
The findings are part of a new report from private equity
firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson that shows advertisers are paying
close attention to the shift in consumer behaviour and putting
more money into areas like digital marketing.
Last year, the top two advertising mediums were newspapers,
at $55.7bn, and broadcast television, at $48.7bn,
according to VSS.
But it estimates that by 2011, overall internet advertising
will become the largest advertising medium, at nearly $63bn, describing the shift as "a watershed moment" in the
media business.
"We consider this one of the major findings," James
Rutherfurd, managing director at VSS, said in an interview. VSS
conducted the study in co-operation with consultancy PQ Media.
Rutherfurd also pointed to a potentially worrisome
development for the media industry - the overall time spent
with media declined slightly last year, a spillover effect of
the consumer shift away from newspapers and other traditional
sources of news and entertainment.
Newspapers, recorded music will move down
For the first time in a decade, the study found, consumers
spent less time with media in 2006 than they did in the previous
year. Usage per person dropped 0.5% to 3 530 hours
annually, according to the study, which said digital media
typically requires less time than traditional media.
For instance, consumers usually watch broadcast or cable TV
for at least 30 minutes per session, but spend as little as five
to seven minutes watching consumer-generated video clips online,
it said.
That might counter predictions by some media experts that
internet usage will add to the sum total of consumer media time.
But VSS expected the trend to correct itself in 2007 with an
overall increase of 0.1% and in 2008 at 0.8%,
roughly line with increases in 2004 and 2005.
In 2006 consumers spent the most time with TV, followed by
radio, which together combined for nearly 70% of the time
spent with media. That was followed by recorded music at 5.3%, newspapers at 5%, and the internet at 5%.
But this year the study forecasts the internet will take up
a bigger chunk of time spent with media than either newspapers
or recorded music. Internet will move up to 5.1%, while
newspapers and recorded music each move down to 4.9%.
At the same time, more time is being spent with media at the
workplace thanks to the internet, the study showed. It said
media usage by "institutional end-users" grew 3.2% to 260 hours per worker in 2006. It predicted that institutional media
usage would continue to grow from 2007 to 2011.
"More and more companies need up-to-the-second information,"
Rutherfurd said. "Most people in their jobs have access to
computers on their desk - companies need the information and
are willing to pay for it."