Broadband leading to less TV time for web users

Broadband leading to less TV time for web users

Availability of broadband at home has resulted in web users spending less and less time on their television sets. The latest reports indicate that Broadband Internet surfers in North America watch two fewer hours of television per week than do those without Internet access. The time lessens to 1.5 hours in case the user has dialup connectivity instead of broadband connection. The research was done by Forrester.

The agency claims that their study uses what it calls the longest-running survey of its kind, counting nearly 69,000 people in the US and Canada as participants. The result shows that Broadband Internet users watch just 12 hours of TV per week, compared with 14 hours for those who are offline. The report was published under the title: ‘The State of Consumers and Technology: Benchmark 2005’.

The agency also predicts that the number of users having a broadband connection would rise to 71.4 million by 2010 from 31 million at present. They also claim that the effect of internet connectivity was found to be least on the mediums like Radio and video games. Newspapers are the other medium getting hurt massively by the popularity of the Internet in the United States.

Another conclusion reached by the study is that “consumers went device crazy in 2004”, snapping up all sorts of digital entertainment gadgets. These devices are expected to get more popular in the coming years.