Internet Closing In On TV As 'Most Essential' Medium

INTERNET CLOSING IN ON TV AS 'MOST ESSENTIAL' MEDIUM
[SOURCE: INTERNETNEWS.COM 6/26, AUTHOR: David Needle]
The Internet has already surpassed television and other media as the "most essential" medium, depending on what age group you fall under. The new Internet and Multimedia 2007 report by Edison Media Research surveyed consumers 12 and older earlier this year and found the Internet (33 percent) is gaining rapidly on television (36 percent) as "most essential." In a similar study, just five years ago, TV led the Internet by a wide margin, 39 to 22 percent. Radio netted a 26 percent "most essential" response in the 2002 study. The Internet is rated most essential by a majority in the 12 to 44 year old age groups; while the older age brackets skew toward television as most essential giving TV the overall edge -- for now. "With Web 2.0 and access to the Internet on different devices, like the iPhone where you can have the Internet in your pocket, there's no way for interest in the Internet to go anywhere but up," Jason Hollins, vice president at Edison Media Research, told internetnews.com. "In almost every category we surveyed, the Internet has doubled or tripled where in consumer's minds it bleeds into all facets of their lives."
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