TVB Study: Adults Spend Twice as Much Time on TV Than Web

People
age 18-plus watched 319 minutes of television a day, according to the Media
Comparisons Study 2010 commissioned by the Television Bureau of Advertising
(TVB). That figure more than doubles the time spent on the Internet (156.6
minutes), and dwarfs daily time spent engaging with radio (91.2 minutes),
newspapers (26.4 minutes) and mobile (19.2).

Other
findings showed that television reaches nearly 90% of people 18-plus every day,
better than the Internet's 67.5%, radio's 60.6% and newspapers' 38.6%, and TV
reaches over 80% of the general population.

Furthermore,
almost 61% of people 18-plus said television had the most "authoritative"
advertising, miles ahead of newspapers (15.4%) and Internet (8.7%), while
almost 86% said TV had the most "influential" advertising.

"These results reaffirm the findings of other studies, such as the Council for Research
Excellence's Video and Consumer Mapping Study as well as Nielsen's Three Screen
Report," said TVB Senior VP of Research Susan Cuccinello. "By every measure,
television reaches more consumers every day than newspapers, magazines, radio,
the internet and mobile media, and more time is spent with television. 
Television also delivers impactful advertising and also connects with consumers
through strong news performance."

The
study was conducted in January and had 1,562 respondents. Interviews were
conducted by Knowledge Networks.

The
findings were encouraging for those in TV news, as 40.9% of people 18-plus said
broadcast television was their "primary source of news", compared to the
Internet's 17.4% and cable news' 15.2%. Tellingly, the Internet scored higher
in that poll than newspapers (10.2%).

Over
57% of respondents 18-plus said they turn to broadcast television first for
local weather, traffic or sports-well ahead of the runner-up, which was the
Internet at 15.6%.

The
TVB is a not for profit trade association representing over 600 TV stations.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.