By Dawn C. Chmielewski
Mercury News
Television executives have more to fear than a future filled with gross-out reality shows. The Internet is rapidly eroding television viewing hours and emerging as a powerful information medium in its own right, according to a study being released today by the University of California-Los Angeles.
In the same way that television eclipsed radio as the primary medium for entertainment and information, the Internet poses a major threat to television.
``The thing that's easy to prove is that Internet users watch less television,'' said Jeffrey I. Cole, director of UCLA Center for Communication Policy, which conducted the study. ``What we've been trying to see is does their Internet time come out of television time? The early indications are pretty clear that it does.''
In its third annual survey of 2,000 Internet-connected and Net-less households throughout the United States, the UCLA Internet Report, ``Surveying the Digital Future,'' (http://ccp.ucla.edu/) found a dramatic drop in television viewing among Internet veterans.
Internet users watched about 4.8 fewer hours of television each week than non-users. And the decline in TV viewing hours grows more dramatic as Internet users gain experience. Internet veterans watch about 5.8 fewer hours of TV than non-users.
No other media form -- not radio, magazines, newspapers or books -- suffered as pronounced a decline.
``Just as radio was the victim when television evolved in the early 1950s, now television is becoming the casualty of increasing Internet use,'' concludes the survey, which has been conducted annually since 2000.
In less than eight years as a publicly available communication tool, the Internet has progressed from gee-whiz technology to an unconscious part of everyday life.
The UCLA survey found that 70 percent of Americans now go online, spending an average of 11.1 hours a week -- up from 9.8 hours a year ago -- checking e-mail, reading news and doing research for work or school.
In the same period, television viewing among Internet users fell from an average 12.3 hours a week to 11.2 hours in 2002, the survey found. (Non-Internet users watched an average 16 hours of TV a week.)
The Internet has emerged as a dominant information source.
Of those surveyed, 60.5 percent said they considered it an important or extremely important source of information -- ranking ahead of television, radio, newspapers and magazines.
But Americans regard Internet content more skeptically than what they read or hear from traditional media outlets. They've grown more critical of online content, over time. And today, one of three Internet users say they trust only half of what they read online, said Cole.
The Internet is most compelling as a communications tool. The survey found that e-mail and instant messaging remain the most popular activities -- far outstripping time spent browsing, reading news or conducting research for work or school.
Contrary to the impression created by legal furor over illicit music and movie swapping online, few think of the Internet as a compelling source of entertainment. The UCLA survey shows that only 25 percent of Internet users rank it as an important entertainment medium -- lagging well behind radio,
television and books.
``The real growth in the Internet is where you go to find things out,'' Cole said. `It's not a place you go to be entertained. It's the place you go to find out about how to be entertained -- finding the local movie times.''
Contact Dawn C. Chmielewski at dchmielewski@sjmercury.com or (800) 643-1902.
Mercury News
Television executives have more to fear than a future filled with gross-out reality shows. The Internet is rapidly eroding television viewing hours and emerging as a powerful information medium in its own right, according to a study being released today by the University of California-Los Angeles.
In the same way that television eclipsed radio as the primary medium for entertainment and information, the Internet poses a major threat to television.
``The thing that's easy to prove is that Internet users watch less television,'' said Jeffrey I. Cole, director of UCLA Center for Communication Policy, which conducted the study. ``What we've been trying to see is does their Internet time come out of television time? The early indications are pretty clear that it does.''
In its third annual survey of 2,000 Internet-connected and Net-less households throughout the United States, the UCLA Internet Report, ``Surveying the Digital Future,'' (http://ccp.ucla.edu/) found a dramatic drop in television viewing among Internet veterans.
Internet users watched about 4.8 fewer hours of television each week than non-users. And the decline in TV viewing hours grows more dramatic as Internet users gain experience. Internet veterans watch about 5.8 fewer hours of TV than non-users.
No other media form -- not radio, magazines, newspapers or books -- suffered as pronounced a decline.
``Just as radio was the victim when television evolved in the early 1950s, now television is becoming the casualty of increasing Internet use,'' concludes the survey, which has been conducted annually since 2000.
In less than eight years as a publicly available communication tool, the Internet has progressed from gee-whiz technology to an unconscious part of everyday life.
The UCLA survey found that 70 percent of Americans now go online, spending an average of 11.1 hours a week -- up from 9.8 hours a year ago -- checking e-mail, reading news and doing research for work or school.
In the same period, television viewing among Internet users fell from an average 12.3 hours a week to 11.2 hours in 2002, the survey found. (Non-Internet users watched an average 16 hours of TV a week.)
The Internet has emerged as a dominant information source.
Of those surveyed, 60.5 percent said they considered it an important or extremely important source of information -- ranking ahead of television, radio, newspapers and magazines.
But Americans regard Internet content more skeptically than what they read or hear from traditional media outlets. They've grown more critical of online content, over time. And today, one of three Internet users say they trust only half of what they read online, said Cole.
The Internet is most compelling as a communications tool. The survey found that e-mail and instant messaging remain the most popular activities -- far outstripping time spent browsing, reading news or conducting research for work or school.
Contrary to the impression created by legal furor over illicit music and movie swapping online, few think of the Internet as a compelling source of entertainment. The UCLA survey shows that only 25 percent of Internet users rank it as an important entertainment medium -- lagging well behind radio,
television and books.
``The real growth in the Internet is where you go to find things out,'' Cole said. `It's not a place you go to be entertained. It's the place you go to find out about how to be entertained -- finding the local movie times.''
Contact Dawn C. Chmielewski at dchmielewski@sjmercury.com or (800) 643-1902.
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