Use of the internet in the US is starting to eat into consumers’ use of other media, with 20-24% of respondents to a Content Intelligence survey claiming to have cancelled subscriptions to magazines since they started using the Net.
The survey shows that the Web rapidly becomes the favourite source for both personal and special interest information, as well as work-related information. These are two areas for which consumer and trade magazines have traditionally provided. On average 20% of internet users claim to have substantially decreased their reading of magazines.
| Years of internet experience |
| Magazine reading time (% agree) |
All |
1 year or less |
2-3 years |
4-5 years |
6+ years |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Increased substantially |
2 |
* |
1 |
3 |
3 |
| Increased somewhat |
7 |
7 |
5 |
11 |
5 |
| Stayed the same |
46 |
52 |
48 |
51 |
36 |
| Decreased somewhat |
25 |
18 |
29 |
18 |
33 |
| Decreased substantially |
20 |
22 |
17 |
17 |
24 |
| Don’t know |
* |
2 |
* |
* |
* |
| *= less than 1% |
|
|
|
|
|
| Source: Content Intelligence |
|
|
|
|
|
However, the same is not true of newspapers. Whilst all other media show declining attention alongside internet use, only about 5% of respondents claim to have decreased their subscriptions to a daily or Sunday newspaper in the US. Users’ intentions to subscribe to cable and premium TV also remained strong despite definite declines in general TV usage reported with increasing internet adoption, according to the survey.
Even in the case of the 10% who said that they spend increased time with other media since beginning to use the internet, three-quarters claim that it was something they found on the web that led them to seek more information from other media.
