Internet usage up but radio consumption down: Online study

A Nielsen Online study, reported in the Australian Financial Review this week, has found that time spent consuming traditional media has decreased further this year in the face of competition from online media.

For the second consecutive year the internet is the most used medium, ahead of newspapers, tv and radio, reports Neil Shoebridge.

Time spent listening to radio slipped from 9.9 hours to 8.8 hours according to the study. TV watching also decreased, down from 13.3 hours per week to 12.9 hours. Newspaper usage was only 2.8 hours per week, down from 3.1 hours, and time spent with magazines was the lowest of the survey at 2 hours per week.

A total of 16.1 hours per week was spent online, but internet usage was not segmented by function in the report, which did not specify how much online time was spent with emails, how much was spent consuming information and how much was entertainment. One statistic that was revealed was video watching online, which increased form 2.5 hours last year to 4.6 hours this year, an indication of greater access to video online and more penetration of broadband into Australian households.

A total of 89.2 hours per week are spent consuming media, up from 89.2 hours in 2007 and 71.4 hours in 2006. This online study has been running for 11 years.

It is not all bad news for traditional media companies however, with the study also finding that consumers are now more likely to be multi-tasking, consuming online media while listening to radio (50%) or consuming tv (60%).


Meanwhile, rival research company Roy Morgan has criticised the Nielsen Online results, saying its methodology is
“skewed.” In contrast, a Morgan omnibus study of 21,000 people found that tv is the most consumed medium. The Morgan research found an average of 21.5 hours are spent watching television each week, more than double the time of 10.7 hours spent consuming internet.

The Morgan research also found that Radio consumption also topped internet usage, with an average of 14.2
hours spent listening to the radio each week.

Morgan blames the discrepancy on the fact that Nielsen used an online panel, which it presumes would be more predisposed towards using internet that the average consumer.


In other internet/radio related news, Austereo CEO Michael Anderson has told the Broadcasting Summit that it is getting harder to monetise web advertising because online ad prices are dropping and becoming commoditised. This is creating “constant downward pressure” on internet advertising rates.