• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, May 13, 2008

America's business elite, the so-called "C suite" that run our country's medium and large size businesses, are changing their personal media habits and spending much more of their time online. That may come as little surprise given the corresponding shifts that have taken place in the consumer population but the new findings, released this morning by global market research giant Ipsos, provides tangible proof of the impact digital media is having on one of the most difficult to reach, but most important media targets of all.

"Top executives are heavy users of what we think of as traditional media, such as television, newspapers, and magazines, but they are also getting more deeply into the digital space, not only the Internet itself, but streaming video, blogs, podcasts, and the like," states Hugh White, vice president of Ipsos MediaCT, the unit that conducted the survey - a mail- and online-based questionnaire - that was completed by 2,390 of America's elite business executives. The study, a nationally projectable survey revealing the media habits, attitudes, opinions and business and personal purchasing habits of C-level executives, reveals a pronounced uptick in their personal use of online media over the past two years, especially the Web sites of print media outlets. It also reveals a corresponding reduction in their usage of other media, especially television, during the same period.

Interestingly, while online media is displacing much of the business elite's media habits, nearly half (47%) said it has had little impact on their "reading of business publications." Moreover, two out of five (38%) said they are now supplementing their consumption of print media by accessing the Web sites of print media outlets on a daily basis.

A study conducted during a comparable period last fall of 2,047 top ad executives (both agency and marketers) by Advertiser Perceptions found a similar shift taking place among top executives in the advertising trade. The study, a semi-annual survey of America's ad business elite, was conducted online by Harris Interactive in October and November 2007, and found that 54% now depend on email newsletters as their primary source of media industry news. Web sites were cited as the "preferred" medium for media industry news by 29% of the respondents, followed by magazines (13%), newspapers (2%) and "other" (2%). Advertiser Perceptions is currently in the field with its Spring 2008 wave, which will be released soon.

The Ipsos study, meanwhile, finds that after the Internet, national and local newspapers still are a primary source of news for the broader base of business elite.

Ipsos also found that the C-level crowd are voracious consumers of digital media in general. Among the studies findings are:

* C-level tech toys: Almost three out of four (71%) own cell phones with cameras and multi messaging, and almost as many (68%) own laptops. More than half (60%) already have HDTV, and almost half (40%) own iPods. Likewise, more than one-third already have Blackberries (36%) or Satellite Radio (35%).
*CEOs TiVo: More than one-third (35%) have used a DVR/TIVO to record or playback a TV program in the past month, with almost one-third having watched video-on-demand.
*Downloading content: In a month's time, more than two-thirds of the C-levels surveyed (68%) have downloaded videos or clips from websites or received email newsletters/alerts on their computers. About half (49%) have streamed or watched broadband videos from websites on their computers.
*C-level Internet commerce: More than three-fourths of C-level executives surveyed are already using the Internet to make their travel or flight reservations (78%), and well over half (57%) regularly buy products or services online.
*Being tech savvy is key: Executives at the top also know that keeping up with the latest technology is vital to the success of their businesses-about three-fourths (72%) agree, with the same number agreeing that a business publication's website is an important part of its offerings (72%).
*Blogging in the C-Suite: They are into blogs too-almost one-third (30%) read blogs and a small number (4%) contribute to blogs.