Much has already been written about this study that predicts internet advertising will pass print and broadcast by 2011. I'll leave this point mostly alone, and will merely note that in 1999 and 2000 there were countless research projects out that boldly predicted online commerce would surpass brick and mortar commerce in a similar fashion; hasn't happened yet. Less noted was the observation that overall media consumption was down:
Rutherfurd also pointed to a potentially worrisome development for the media industry -- the overall time spent with media declined slightly last year, a spillover effect of the consumer shift away from newspapers and other traditional sources of news and entertainment.
For the first time in a decade, the study found, consumers spent less time with media in 2006 than they did in the previous year. Usage per person dropped 0.5 percent to 3,530 hours annually, according to the study, which said digital media typically requires less time than traditional media.
For instance, consumers usually watch broadcast or cable TV for at least 30 minutes per session, but spend as little as five to seven minutes watching consumer-generated video clips online, it said.
People spend time where they receive value, plain and simple. This could be knowledge, it could be entertainment, it could be social, it could be a combination of all of the above. If time spent watching TV dropped, it's because the perceived value, either relative or real, of what is on there fell. I know I watched less TV last year, because nothing on there really caught my sustained attention. I read more books, because I found some good ones. Next year, that could flip. Instead of focusing on the aggregate amount, people would be better off in nailing the quality piece -- I remain convinced that quality, in the parlance of today, will draw eyeballs.