A new study has shown that Australians are spending more time on the Internet than they are`watching television or movies. The study was conducted by Illuminas in several geographic areas including Australia, New Zealand, Europe and US.
For the Australian part of the study, the research firm sampled 864 broadband users and found that on average they spent 47 hours a week connected to the Internet. Eight hours were spent listening to or downloading music and three hours were spent gaming. These 47 hours spent doing media-related activities online compared to only 14 hours spent in front of the television.
This didn’t come as a surprise to Illuminas Managing Director, Jay Shutter who told ARN News that spending 47 hours on the Internet during the week may seem like a lot of time, but it is normal in a media-driven society.
“The Internet has become such a centre point for not only TV content, but also how people manage their lives; get movie or theatre tickets, plan a vacation, communicate with friends, search for a new fridge, whatever it might be. The Internet has become an invaluable resource for so many elements of the digital lifestyle,” said Shutter.
The study also noted that Australians own an average of seven devices. While most own a mobile phone, mobile media consumption was low with only 2% percent responding that they have used their mobile phone to access media content online on a regular basis. Less than 4% of the respondents said that they might use their mobile phones for that purpose within the next year.
