Despite the quick spread of video to computers, cell phones and iPods, their use for viewing is more hype than reality, and TV watching hasn’t suffered from their growth.
Those are among the findings of a $3.5 million study [from] the Council for Research Excellence, a group of top media researchers, funded by Nielsen.
The study confirms similar findings in earlier reports but uses a more statistically reliable method of observation in which researchers followed 476 people for two 14-hour days and recorded all of their media usage and daily activities.
It’s said to be the largest observational study of media usage to date.
“If you ask people how much time they spent online yesterday, they’re going to give you a wrong answer. They don’t remember,” says Steve Sternberg, chief analyst at Magna Global, a major ad firm, and a member of the Council. “The idea of doing a study where you actually observe the user and keep track of all the media they’re using is compelling.”
The research, conducted in five cities last year (Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia and Seattle) by a team from Ball State University, shows adults ages 45 to 54 were heaviest users of all electronic media, spending an average of 9.5 hours a day. All other adults spent about 8.5 hours on a combination of TV, computers, mobile devices and other screens.
That same crowd of Baby Boomers also spent more time on e-mail, instant messaging and DVR playback than other age groups. But while 43 percent of TV viewers in the study watched some form of online video, they spent only a few minutes a day doing so.
Adults 65 and older spent seven hours a day watching live TV, by far the highest amount for any age group, though they were far less likely to use computers or cell phones.
That…