Internet use overtakes TV

Research released yesterday by Nielsen Online showed weekly internet usage overtook television for the first time in Australia.

On average, internet users spent 13.7 hours a week online and TV viewers spent 13.3 hours in front of the box.

This compares with 12.5hours a week online and 13.8hours watching TV in 2006.

“The gap (between online and TV usage) itself isn’t that large – less than half an hour a week,” Nielsen Online’s Tony Marlow told The Australian. “But it’s very significant in that it’s bucked the trend we have seen in the past.”

Among internet users, 58per cent said they had watched TV while online and 48per cent said they had listened to the radio.

“But there is a point at which you can’t take on any more without sacrificing something,” Mr Marlow said. “It’s difficult to go beyond two, possibly three, activities at any one time.”

Industry group Free TV Australia challenged the findings, saying the online sector had “struggled to find a robust measurement for internet usage”.

“In 2007, according to the official source for Australian metro ratings, OzTAM, Australians watched, on average, over three hours and 32 minutes of television a day, or 24.5 hours per week,” Free TV marketing director Rhonda Brown said. “Despite the evolving media landscape, the appetite for television has remained as strong as ever.”

Source: The Australian