Benton RSS Feed

The Media Day and Concurrent Media Exposure

The average American spends more time using media devices —television, radio, iPods and cell phones — than any other activity while awake, says a new study from Ball State University. The Middletown Media Studies 2 (MMS2), the most comprehensive observational media use study ever undertaken, also found participants are adept at managing their use of two or more types of media at the same time.

Researchers from Ball State's Center for Media Design (CMD) unveiled the key findings Sept. 26 in New York as part of Media Magazine's Forecast 2006 program. The research team includes Mike Bloxham, CMD director of testing and assessment; Robert Papper, telecommunications professor; Mark Popovich, journalism professor; and Michael Holmes, communication studies professor spending this semester as a CMD faculty research fellow.

"As a society, we are consumers of media," Papper said. "The average person spends about nine hours a day using some type of media, which is arguably in excess of anything we would have envisioned 10 years ago."

Research team members spent the last several months shadowing about 400 people — collecting and analyzing data on 5,000 hours of media use — in Muncie and Indianapolis. Recording information every 15 seconds, researchers measured participants' use of 15 media including television, books, magazines, cell phones, the Internet, instant messaging, e-mail and radio.

Bloxham said the subjects in the study were ordinary people, not a group of "media sophisticates who define themselves by the use of the latest media gadgets."

Key findings of the research include:

About 30 percent of the observed waking day was spent with media as the sole activity versus 20.8 percent for work activity, while an additional 39 percent of the day was spent with media while involved in some other activity

In any given hour no less than 30 percent of those studied were engaged in some way with television, and in some hours of the day that figure rose to 70 percent

While television is still by far the dominant medium in terms of the time average Americans spend daily with media at 240.9 minutes, the computer has emerged as the second most significant media device at about 120 minutes

About 30 percent of all media time is spent exposed to more than one medium at a time

People ages 18 to 24 spend less time online than any other age group except those older than 65

Levels of concurrent media exposure were higher among those 40 to 65 than people 18 to 39

Women spend more time multitasking with two or more types of media than men

Use of the Web, e-mail and phones is substantially higher on Fridays than any other day of the week

"Television is still the 800-pound gorilla because of how much the average person is exposed to it," Papper said. "However, that is quickly evolving. When we combine time spent on the Web, using e-mail, instant messaging and software such as word processing, the computer eclipses all other media with the single exception of television."

"The introduction of the computer into the workplace also has created a whole class of multitaskers," he said. "We thought young people would be better at multitasking, but computers have forced older workers to do more than one thing at a time to survive in the workplace."

Bloxham said from an advertising perspective, the research has both good and bad news based on the array of new media outlets along with the challenge of more outlets competing for attention.

"Increased choice and interactivity is giving more control to consumers over their media experiences," he said. "Media strategies should perhaps no longer be media centric, but should focus on consumers. For example, if media usage increases on Fridays based on the assumption that people are planning social activities, then this would be potentially the best day to advertise movies, drink and food specials and other products."

About Middletown Media Studies 2, Ball State University and the Center for Media Design

Middletown Media Studies 2 builds upon Muncie's reputation as "Middletown America," a typical community in the United States. Muncie earned this distinction as a result of the Middletown Studies of the 1920s and '30s by sociologists Robert and Helen Lynd. Findings from the research will be used to create a series of reports and white papers in the coming months. MMS2 is a follow-up to a 2004 study that found people consume twice as much media as previously thought.

Ball State University, located one hour northeast of Indianapolis in Muncie, Ind., is the third-largest public university in Indiana, with more than 17,700 students.

The Center for Media Design is a research and development facility focused on the creation, testing and practical application of digital technologies for business, classroom, home and community.

(Note to editors: To reach the MMS2 researchers, contact Marc Ransford, media relations manager, at 00meransford@bsu.edu or (765) 285-1570.)

The media "ecosystem" surrounding Americans - not just TV, radio, and newspapers but also the Web, PDAs, MP3 players, cellphones, video games, and more - keeps getting more widespread, personal, and diverse. A new study by Ball State University finds that more than two-thirds of people's waking moments involved some kind of media usage. What's more, of the time spent using media, nearly one-third was spent consuming two or more forms at once, such as watching TV and surfing the Internet, or listening to music while playing a video game. Watching television remains by far the most popular media-related activity. More than 90 percent of those studied viewed TV, for an average of about four hours per day. About three-quarters used a computer, for a little more than two hours per day. While much has been written about how computer use may be eating into TV watching, the report suggests that the reverse may be true as well. "As, over time, the computer becomes a vehicle for more rich media content (often related to TV programming), the line between the two media is likely to blur further, calling into question the TV-centric mindset," it says.
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor , AUTHOR:Gregory M. Lamb]

The parent companies of the Big Three broadcast networks and a bunch of cable nets are opposing the FCC's new children's television rules concerning: 1) The definition of program promotions and website addresses shown in kids shows as advertising, and thus counted toward limits on kids ads on both broadcast and cable. The WB, though not one of the petitioners, said earlier this year that the prospect of having to count program promotion as advertising was one of the reasons it decided to scrap its weekday children's programming block. 2) The ban on host-selling Web links -- Web addresses promoted in a show that use characters from that show to sell products or services. Stations are already prevented from including host-selling TV ads in kids shows. 3) The requirement that free multicast channels meet a kids TV programming benchmark of roughly the same amount of educational/informational (E/I) programming, proportionately, as their core channel three-hours-a-week requirement. For instance, if a broadcaster aired 12 hours a day of multicast programming, seven days a week, it would be expected to air an additional hour and a half of educational/informational kids programming.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

Providers of Internet telephone service are enjoying a boost on Capitol Hill as Senate Commerce Committee members have gravitated toward their story of success in responding to Hurricane Katrina, in contrast to the failure of other telecommunications services. Companies such as Vonage are promoting a bill (S. 1063), that would grant them relief from an FCC order mandating that they provide "enhanced 911" calling capabilities by Nov. 28. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) sponsored the measure, which -- among other things -- would grant emergency responders immunity from lawsuits arising from taking 911 calls from Voice over Internet Protocol providers. That is an immunity they have when they take calls from traditional telephone and wireless companies. Besides offering some relief for VoIP providers, S. 1063 would modernize the public safety 911 system. That has led Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Commerce ranking member Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) to take an interest in the bill, which is also supported by Sens. Conrad Burns (R-Mont), and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY). Sens Stevens and Inouye have agreed to support the bill and promised a markup by Oct. 21, according to an aide to Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN) who introduced the identical House bill, H.R. 2418. Gordon aide Dana Lichtenberg said the E911 bill would be part of a package of post-Katrina communications legislation, including a bill designed to let public safety offices communicate with each other and legislation to modernize the National Emergency Alert service. The E911 bill's other elements pertaining to VoIP would grant the FCC clear jurisdiction to impose such rules, something that has been challenged by four VoIP providers. It also would clearly require the regional Bell firms and other phone companies to provide access to phone lines and network databases that Vonage and other VoIP companies need to deliver 911 calls.
[SOURCE: Technology Daily, AUTHOR: Drew Clark]