Study Shows More Time Spent on Web Than Reading Newspapers

For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past few years, I have a news flash: The internet is popular. More popular, in fact, than reading the newspaper, going to the movies, or listening to recorded music.

A new report from private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson suggests that more time is spent on the internet than with the aforementioned activities. The report has caught the eye of many advertisers who are beginning to look more closely at digital marketing. The top two advertising mediums last year were in the newspaper and on broadcast television, but the study estimates that by 2011 that should all change. By then, digital marketing could possibly be numero uno. Reuters reports:

"We consider this one of the major findings," James Rutherfurd, managing director at VSS, said in an interview. VSS conducted the study in cooperation 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.

Experts suggest that the total time has declined because people, on average, spend less time on the internet per session than with other forms of media. Typically, a person spends at least thirty minutes per session with the television, as opposed to 5-7 minutes watching video clips online. The study also showed an increase in the amount of media consumed at work. This can also be attributed to the rise of the internet. Kinda funny considering I write most of my articles from work.