July 8, 2006
The Internet has become the No.1 or No.2 medium behind television during
nearly every part of the day, according to new research. In the mornings from
8 a.m. to 11 a.m., Internet has surpassed
the radio. Web usage peaks between 2 and 5 p.m., when nearly 40 percent
of all users are online either at work or at home. The study, released by
the Online Publishers Association, also offers in-depth details of how
people use the internet in conjunction with other media.
The study was conducted by researchers from Ball State University’s
Center for Media Design, who tracked the media usage of 350 people,
recording their activities every 15 seconds. The study found that more
than 60 percent of respondents used the internet for roughly two hours
per day. It also found that those who use the web more than any other
medium, called web dominant, spend about $5,000 more per year on retail
goods than those who are TV dominant. Yet despite the internet’s rise
since 1995, when just 10 percent of respondents went online, it still
only made up about 8 percent of advertising spending last year.
Pam Horan, president of OPA, considers that the Internet can be
genuinely be called a mass media. Regarding which media are used
together most often, the study found that in the morning, TV has a
reach of 41 percent, but when you combine it with the web, it goes
up to 62 percent. Newspapers have a reach of 17 percent. Combined
with the web that goes to 44 percent. And magazines go from 7 percent
to 39 percent. If you take a look at the evening, the combination of
the web and print, newspapers, it goes from 39 percent to 75 percent,
magazines from 31 to 72 percent. So there is value in the web on its
own as a reach vehicle, and then you have this complementary aspect
that makes it more powerful.
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