Internet consumption twice as high as magazines and newspapers

According to the results of a survey across 5,000 respondents based in the US and Canada, the number of hours spent on a PC by both men and women was second only to hours spent watching television. Also it was found that men spent more time consuming media overall each week. Men were revealed to spend over 7 hours more time consuming media on average per week, with more hours recorded across all categories except magazines, where women traditionally hold the edge.

During a typical week, the Forrester respondents were found to spend around 10 hours per week on a PC, with 6 hours actively spent browsing the Internet compared to 13 hours watching TV, 7 hours listening to the radio, 3.4 hours reading newspapers and 2.4 hours reading magazines.

The findings have been the online industry's most recent supporting evidence to continue the cause for increasing Internet advertising budgets. A number of leading industry players within the US have already touted the figures with the aim of increasing online budget allocation, which is still widely believed to be far lower than the percentage of hours spent online by consumers.

This apparent gulf is further magnified in the Middle East, where less than half a percent of all advertising dollars finds itself online. The ME market continues to experience exponential growth across both PC purchases as well as Internet usage yet continues to lag behind other more traditional media for a share of the marketing pie.

As with the Forrester findings, the ME online industry desperately needs such regular surveys to be conducted to further educate advertisers about the ever changing consumer-media behaviour. Findings such as the Forrester report, though concentrating on North America, still highlight that consumers are altering their media habits far faster than many industry professionals are aware.