• by Masha Geller , September 9, 2002

In addition to Zenith downgrading their projections for the future of ad spending and AOL predicting their financial results would be below expectations for the year, yesterday did bring some good news to the ad world.

A new study shows that business decision makers are more heavily influenced by advertising on the Web than advertising on any other top medium. The study, which was jointly conducted by washingtonpost.com, Nielsen//NetRatings’ @plan and MORI Research, also found that increased usage of the Web by decision makers is leading directly to their decreased usage of leading traditional media.

According to the findings, 60% of business decision makers surveyed recommend the Web when asked which media to include in an advertising campaign to reach them. Less than 40% recommended using television or radio. An overwhelming 77% said that the Web is the place where they prefer to find out about new products and companies, and nearly half said that the Web has actually influenced them to make a purchase or obtain a service for their business.

Additionally, 17% use the Web at least five hours per weekday (excluding email) and 50% of those that have increased their Web usage in the last year said they have decreased their television viewing as a result.

Just to put this release into perspective, an Arbitron/Edison Media Research study released last week found that 37% of those online are watching less TV as a result; 31% are spending less time reading newspapers, and 27% are spending less time reading magazines. Also, a May 2002 comScore study revealed that the audience for major newspaper websites grew much faster over the past six months than the markets' total Internet user base in seven of the 10 largest U.S. markets. Moreover, a survey released in March 2002 from Forbes.com showed that C-level executives spend more time during the week online (exclusive of email) than they spend with any other medium.

And lastly, an OPA study of At-Work Internet users revealed that online advertising was their preferred way to receive marketing messages about new products and information about companies. Most significantly, online advertising was cited as the number one form of advertising that helps them decide what to buy.