Wealthy Americans shift from paper to screen

The readership of print media among the wealthiest US consumers dropped 16 per cent in 2010 from the year before, while their Internet usage rose 12 per cent, according to a new survey. The shift from paper to screen was particularly marked among younger consumers, who spent more time online and read fewer magazines and newspapers than the average. In a further bad sign for the media industry, consumption of business and financial news dropped across print, television and the web, according to the Mendelsohn Affluent Survey of heads of households making more than $100,000 a year.

"There's one category that went down in all three [platforms]," Bob Shullman, Ipsos Mendelson president, said. "We're living in turbulent times." The industry has made significant investments in business news programming on television and online. There are an estimated 44m affluent consumers in the US, representing 21 per cent of American households but holding 60 per cent of total income and 70 per cent of consumer wealth, according to Ipsos Mendelsohn, the media research group that conducts the annual survey. The survey of 13,804 individuals asked about interests and spending habits, including media consumption, travel and leisure activities.