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

Broadcast TV easily top source for local news

By Michael Malone -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/25/2010 12:44:44 PM

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.