• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, December 29, 2010

Father Time wasn't kind to traditional media in 2010, judging by the latest data from eMarketer: The average amount of time spent with magazines, newspapers and radio dipped compared to 2009.

While magazines and newspapers took the biggest hits, even small declines are ominous for radio, as they continue a trend already in evidence in previous years. These losses are especially noteworthy in light of the overall increase in media consumption, including the Internet.

Senior analyst Lisa Phillips summed up the changes: "Mobile devices will claim more and more media time per day, while TV, print and radio will slowly lose ground to digital media. Those trends have been most apparent with print media in recent years, but are now beginning to show up in TV and radio usage as well."

From 2009-2010, the total average time spent by U.S. adults consuming media increased from 650 minutes to 660 minutes, according to findings -- up from 635 minutes in 2008. However, from 2009-2010, the average daily time spent with print magazines by American adults tumbled 9.1% from 22.1 minutes to 19.8 minutes. That follows a 13% drop in 2009, down from 25.4 minutes in 2008.

Another worry -- newspapers sank 10.5% from 33.2 minutes in 2009 to 29.7 minutes in 2010. That comes on the heels of a 13% decline in 2009, down from 38.1 minutes in 2008.

In the broadcast world, radio sank from 97.5 minutes per day in 2009 to 95.7 minutes per day in 2010, for a modest 1.9% decline. This follows a 3.1% decline in 2009, down from 101.6 minutes in 2008.

Time spent with TV and video slipped 1.1% from 266.5 minutes in 2009 to 264 minutes in 2010. That reverses an earlier trend; previously, TV and video had actually increased their share 4.9% from 254 minutes in 2008.

It's no surprise that new media rivals are growing: The biggest gainers have been Internet and mobile media. Average daily time spent with the Internet grew 6% from 146.3 minutes in 2009 to 155.1 minutes in 2010, continuing the previous year's trend, when it grew 7.2% from 136.5 minutes in 2008. Mobile media increased 27% from 39 minutes in 2009 to 49.5 minutes in 2010. This followed a 22% increase from 31.8 minutes in 2008.