• by Wendy Davis , March 16, 2005

While some marketers have long feared that the Internet would cut into the time consumers spend with other media--such as television and print media--it appears that the opposite is true. Adults who go online most frequently also watch more shows and read more newspapers than their less wired counterparts, according to a Carat Insight analysis of data from Mediamark Research, Inc. and Multimedia Scan.

The report, based on personal interviews and surveys of 23,000 U.S. adults conducted over a period of several months during the end of 2003 and beginning of 2004, found that adults who go online at least daily watch 46 more minutes of television a day than those who go online less frequently. The daily Web habitues also reported reading at least 16 magazine issues and 27 newspapers in the prior month.

Eighteen percent of the population went online at least once a day, compared to 43 percent who logged in at least once in the 30-day period before being surveyed--and 39 percent who connected to the Web even less frequently, according to the survey.

The findings mean that marketers have many options for reaching the online users, said Rob Frydlewicz, vice president-research director at Carat Insight. "You can reach heavy Internet users in places other than the Internet," Frydlewicz said.

One explanation for the higher overall media consumption stems from the demographics of frequent Internet users, said Frydlewicz. Those who go online at least once a day also tend to have higher-than-average income and education levels--and this often goes hand-in-hand with heavy newspaper and magazine reading. Also, said Frydlewicz, those with higher incomes are more likely to pay for cable TV--and having pay-television often translates into more hours in front of the tube. "There are more viewing options available, and you're paying for it," Frydlewicz said.

But while the plugged-in group consumed the most media, details of their viewing and reading habits revealed differences from average consumers. Daily Internet users watched less TV during prime-time hours, but were more likely to watch late-night shows such as the "Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn" and "Saturday Night Live," and early-morning shows such as "Good Morning America," than were either the non-Internet users or those who only signed on once a month.

When viewing prime time, the high-usage Internet crowd was more likely than average to watch Emmy-award winners "Arrested Development" and "Amazing Race."

The heavy Internet users were far more likely to read magazines geared toward technology or computers than those who went online less than once a day. For instance, the daily users were four times more likely to read Wired or Macworld than those who went online less frequently. Daily Web users also were far more likely to read two or more daily and Sunday newspapers than people who went online less often.