Consumers shift online activities to content and away from communication
Internet users are shifting their online behavior to visiting content sites, and now spend nearly half their online time visiting content, a 37% increase in share of time from four years ago, reports the Internet Activity Index from the Online Publishers Association. Research for the index is conducted by Nielsen/NetRatings.
Consumers now spend 47% of their time with content, compared with 34% four years ago. The 37% gain in share for content is followed by a 35% gain in share for search. However, the total time being spent with search remains low, accounting for just 5% of Internet users’ online time in 2007, the index reports.
In 2003, communications accounted for 46% of consumers` time online. Now it accounts for 33%. "The IAI has identified a very significant and sustained trend in where consumers are spending their online time," says Online Publishers Association president Pam Horan. "The index indicates that, over the last four years, the primary role of the Internet has shifted from communications to content."
Behind the changes in Internet usage, says the Online Publishers Association, are:
- A more accessible and faster Internet is driving increased overall time spent online.
- The increased popularity of video is leading to more time spent with online content.
- The improvement in search allows consumers to more easily and quickly find the exact content they are looking for, increasing the likelihood they will engage more deeply with that content.
- The web offers far more content than it did even four years ago, increasing content`s share of time.
- The rise of instant messaging as a key communications tool has been a factor in communication`s reduction in share of time. IM is a more efficient communications vehicle than e-mail.
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