Users Would Happily Give Up TV And Even Cable For The Internet
It has already been revealed that in a straight choice, the internet would be preffered to tv by a majority of users. The survey by Arbitron and Edison Media Research conducted on 1753 us citizens showed that whilst 49% could do without tv, only 48% would drop browsing the web. Aprevious survey conducted in 2001 had very different results, with 72% bvoting to lose the net. This shows how the web has become the most important carrier of media.
Said Edisons Larry Roslin:- “The shift over these nine years has been steady and profound. There’s very little TV programming you can’t watch on the Internet.”
More and more viewers are becoming aware of watching television online and some are doing something about this new found freedom. The post-gazette.com shows the change in viewing habits, for example – Patti Schmidt, 48, of Munhall, for example, has cut the cable cord completely because of the abundance of TV programming online.
“I use Hulu mostly,” she said, also mentioning PBS.org and websites associated with cable’s A&E and History, when viewing on the Internet. “The cool thing about watching over the Internet is that you can watch anything you want whenever you want.”
Another viewer, Tom Haddad, a 35-year-old software engineer who lives near Coraopolis, also has dropped his cable. He keeps up with 20 TV shows. Some he watches on TV, but as many as half he relies on websites to view.
His new approach to TV consumption improved his budget’s bottom line. “My bill for Internet, cable, cell and land line in New Jersey was $200,” he said. “Now I pay just under $100 for cell and Internet service.”
For Leah Shreckengast of Squirrel Hill, a junior at Point Park University, TV or Internet isn’t just a hypothetical question. She doesn’t have cable, uses the Internet to watch TV episodes and Netflix for movies, and listens to music online.
Not everyone in her generation feels the same way. “I don’t enjoy sitting at my computer,” said Rachelle Rosensteel of Hampton, a Point Park University junior who says she buys CDs rather than downloading music online and doesn’t spend much time on social networking sites.
Others are perfectly content to give up their Internet privileges. “When I get home, it’s more relaxing to watch TV,” said Linda Sikora of Forest Hills. Sue Toth of Greenfield would give up Internet “in a heartbeat.”
Nationally, viewership of all kinds is growing on home screens large and small. According to the Nielsen Three Screen Report, people are spending more time watching on different platforms: In the last quarter of 2009, the typical American watched almost 35 hours of TV a week, two hours of timeshifted TV, 22 minutes of online video, four minutes of mobile video, and four hours on the Internet.
Internet gaining ground over tv
When you look around at what is online now, the sheer choice, availability and quality is such that it is easy to understand why the wind is starting to change. I think that the future though will come wrapped up in a tv set that gives access to all that great online content and tv. I think Google agree which is why they are pushing the Google tv concept. Every broadcaster is getting an online presence as well. They must have been reading the survey results.
Related News:
- Warner Cable wants to give free TV content online
- Cable companies muscle in on internet TV
- Internet TV killing cable subscribers
- Cable TV Cannot Compete With Internet TV. So Its Joining It Instead.
- Is Internet TV Killing Cable?
