‘I want my media!’
The TV and MTV generations (and that includes almost all of us now) are not satisfied with one channel any longer — we have become multi-channel media omnivores.
In fact, when you add it all up, according to the data in the new “Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2007,” from the US Census Bureau, Americans spend more time every day consuming media than they do eating.
According to the Census Bureau, Americans spend nearly half their lives with TV, radio, the Internet and newspapers — often using more than one at a time.
In the US, adults and teens will spend nearly five months (3,518 hours) next year watching television, surfing the Internet, reading daily newspapers and listening to personal music devices.
The report states: “People will spend 65 days in front of the TV, 41 days listening to radio and a little over a week on the Internet in 2007. Adults will spend about a week reading a daily newspaper and teens and adults will spend another week listening to recorded music.”
That means every day next year, on average, Americans will spend almost 10 hours watching television, surfing the Internet, reading books, newspapers and magazines and listening to music.
“The demand for information and entertainment seems almost insatiable,” James Rutherfurd of Veronis Suhler Stevenson told The New York Times.
Here is how the typical American’s media day breaks down. He or she will spend nearly four and a half hours watching television, two and a half hours listening to radio and a half hour listening to recorded music. The other two and a half hours will be spent reading newspapers, surfing the Internet, playing video games and doing other reading.
Obviously, the amount of time Americans spent on media every year is rising, from 3,340 hours in 2000 to 3,543 hours last year — and that figure is projected to rise to 3,620 hours in 2010.
The time spent with each media category varies. Americans spend less time watching broadcast television, which dropped from 793 hours a year in 2000 to 679 hours in 2005, and more time on the Internet, which rose from 104 hours a year in 2000 up to 183 hours in 2005.
Not surprisingly, Americans spend money consuming all that media.
Consumer spending for media is forecast to be $936.75 per US citizen next year.
Of course, media is not the only thing Americans consume.
The report found that Americans drink about a gallon of soda a week, along with a half-gallon each of milk, bottled water, coffee and beer. Which helps explain why two-thirds of us are overweight, including one-third who are obese.
Dessert Item
Looking back at Internet activity in 2005, the report found that, among US adults, 97 million Internet users sought news online in 2005, 92 million purchased products and 91 million made travel reservations. About 16 million used social or professional networking sites and 13 million created blogs.
If reading this article has made you hungry for more on media consumption, you may enjoy reading eMarketer’s new Internet Video Audience report.
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