Online Usage Hits Traditional Media
The fast growth of home internet usage is starting to draw audiences away from some of the more traditional media, such as television and magazines. A new study by Continental Research has found that over one third (34%) of people spend less time watching television since they have ‘gone online’. Almost a quarter of people said that they devote less time to reading magazines since becoming connected to the world wide web.
Not all media have been hit in this way, however: radio appears to be complementary to surfing the web, with 25% of people claiming to listen to more radio since they started using the Net.
These trends are likely to become more significant as the size of the home internet market continues to grow, driven especially by the addition of more and more free internet service providers (ISPs) joining the fray. The number of home users of the Net has recently overtaken that of business, according to a report by BMRB International: home use accounts for 42%, business use for 38%.
“The more familiar users become with the Internet, the more they use it,” says Patrick Diamond, associate director at BMRB. “Not only this, the speed with which users are moving through from light use to heavy use is also increasing.”
For advertisers, this should make the internet an exciting prospect. However, Continental’s research shows that only 59% of regular users have ever clicked on banner advertisement. The survey also reports that the number of people looking at ads (as opposed to clicking them) has fallen between 1997 and 1998. That having been said, more and more people are now buying products online, mainly computer-related hardware and software.
Nevertheless, the UK’s online advertising expenditure is predicted by Fletcher Research to grow from £15 million in December 1998 to £286 million by the end of 2001.