Consumer behavior changes, including a gradual diminution of television viewing and newspaper readership, indicate that the Internet is becoming the dominant form of mass media—if it hasn’t already.
The biggest changes resulted from the proliferation of high-speed broadband connections, which have led consumers to use the Internet several times daily. Consumers with slower dial-up connections usually log on twice daily.
Consumers with broadband connections use the Internet an average of 17.3 hours per week, compared to 10.6 hours for those with dial-up connections. The greater time spent online correlates to more online shopping and purchasing.
The number of hours a person uses the Internet on a weekly basis continues to increase and has yet to reach a plateau. And gaps in use among income, age and gender demographics are narrowing, according to Jeffrey I. Cole, director of the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future.
“People now go to the Internet as their first source of information and, sadly for some, their only source of information,” Cole said.
The Internet, perhaps more than the TV clicker, has disrupted consumers’ viewing of television commercials. People are increasingly using the Internet while watching TV, according to Cole.
Television isn’t the only medium that the Internet is encroaching on. After three or four years of regular Internet use consumers usually spend about two hours less per week reading newspapers, compared to those who don’t use the Internet. Moreover, consumers in their 30s and 40s are relying on the Internet for information, rather than developing a habit of reading newspapers.
Roughly 60% of the U.S. population now regularly uses the Internet, with the bulk of the holdouts being elderly people. Since the most avid Internet users are children and young consumers, within 30 to 40 years the penetration for regular usage will be about 98%, similar to what television is now, Cole said.
The research indicates that 53% of U.S. consumers believe most or all the information they receive from the Internet is accurate and reliable, but that figure has been declining in recent years. That trend is a good sign: People are becoming more discerning of the sources of Internet information and, consequently, with the added benefit for marketers that they’re becoming more brand loyal online, Cole said.
Cole shared his findings during the Ad:Tech conference in San Francisco.
