Written by Om Malik
Posted Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 6:59 AM PT

 

Surprise Surprise…TV Viewing Is Declining

Earlier this week I decided to cancel my Comcast (CMCSA) subscriptions, switching instead to Covad’s ADSL2 service, which is faster, for now. I didn’t even think twice about switching off my cable service, because frankly with the exception of baseball games and ESPN, I didn’t really watch regular old TV, opting instead to buy videos on the iTunes store or watch DVDs from NetFlix (NFLX).

2ipods.jpgApparently, I am not in the minority. A new IBM (IBM) survey of consumer digital media and entertainment habits shows that personal Internet time now rivals TV time.

About 19 percent of those who responded to the survey said they spend six hours or more per day on personal Internet usage, vs. 9 percent who reported the same levels of TV viewing. 66 percent reported viewing between one and four hours of TV per day compared with 60 percent who reported the same levels of personal Internet usage.

“Consumers are demonstrating their desire for both wired and wireless access to content: An average of 81 percent of consumers surveyed globally indicated they’ve watched or want to watch PC video, and an average of 42 percent indicated they’ve watched or want to watch mobile video,” said Bill Battino, communications sector managing partner in IBM’s global business services group.

While the findings shouldn’t come as a surprise to our readers, it is important to point out that the video market is going through a shift similar to what happened in the mobile world when kids started replacing their landline phones with mobiles because of the portability. As more and more people want their video portable, a comparable change is occurring in the video world. Saul Berman, who focuses on entertainment strategy and change at IBM, noted:

“The Internet is becoming consumers’ primary entertainment source. The TV is increasingly taking a back seat to the cell phone and the personal computer among consumers age 18 to 34. Just as the ‘Kool Kids’ and ‘Gadgetiers’(1) have replaced traditional landlines with mobile communications, cable and satellite TV subscriptions risk a similar fate of being replaced as the primary source of content access.”

Other key findings of the survey:

  • 24 percent of U.S. respondents reported owning a DVR in their home and watching at least 50 percent of television programming on replay.
  • In the UK, nearly a third of users who watch mobile TV reduced their standard TV set viewing patterns as a result of new mobile device services.
  • In Germany, of those respondents who had watched mobile video, 23 percent said they prefer to view user-generated content.
  • 9 percent of German and 7 percent of U.S. respondents claim to have contributed to a user-generated content site

 

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Comments & Trackbacks

  1. I think television still has one advantage over Internet TV (not that I watch the boob toob anymore) — that people can turn it on and just have it on. They’ll consume whatever is in front of them. They don’t have to search for it. (Or maybe I’m discounting the power of channel surfing?)

    It’s much more passive than Internet TV, where nothing ‘just comes to you’. It’s not about Channels. It’s about individual shows. Or even smaller individual 2 minute videos. It’s really hard to just sit down and watch. Even Joost doesn’t surmount that issue yet.

    It’s going to be interesting to see how that plays out. Will TV in 5 years look like On Demand? Or will it look like the Miro? Or are they even that different now?

    Mark Schoneveld on August 22nd, 2007 at 7:14 am - Permalink

  2. [...] of the programming I watch, though I am SciFi Channel Deprived. So I was not shocked to hear that Om Malik is making the jump himself.  While Om will miss sports, I could care less, as could many of my friends.  Breaking [...]

    TV Viewing is Declining and Other Dying Technologies that Changed the World on August 22nd, 2007 at 8:27 am - Permalink

  3. However, one would expect the IBM consumer survey study results to be slightly skewed towards heavy Internet users — considering that they are based on a 40-item Internet questionnaire!

    Alexander on August 22nd, 2007 at 10:04 am - Permalink

  4. [...] in the US, the UK, Australia, Germany, and Japan — according to an IBM study to which Om Malik points us. Note also that TV networks’ share of online TV viewing is only about 33 percent, below [...]

    BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » TV explodes: The chain reaction hits critical mass on August 22nd, 2007 at 10:31 am - Permalink

  5. [...] IBM, via New Tee Vee Rate This Post: Bookmarking links:       Related Topics: IBM, [...]

    Podcasting News » Internet Media Replacing Traditional Media on August 22nd, 2007 at 11:57 am - Permalink

  6. I wouldn’t be so sure about TV viewing declining, particularly when relying on self-reported data, which tends to significantly understate the amount that the average person watches. There is a stigma associated with TV viewing that doesn’t really exist to the same degree for internet usage–this tends to skew the results of surveys of this type.

    David on August 22nd, 2007 at 12:22 pm - Permalink

  7. The study was more about TV as the primary media device, not so much as to what types of content they are watching.

    People are watching media on their computers and mobile devices, which is taking away from time in front of the TV set. This shouldn’t really be a surprise, as there are a lot more options today for where you can watch your media.

    Frank Sinton on August 22nd, 2007 at 1:15 pm - Permalink

  8. [...] I saw this article that finally begins to point to parody between television viewing and Internet use. Good! [...]

    ShellyBlog » TV Viewing on the Decline: YES! on August 22nd, 2007 at 2:18 pm - Permalink

  9. [...] — in the US, the UK, Australia, Germany, and Japan — according to an IBM study to which Om Malik points us. Note also that TV networks’ share of online TV viewing is only about 33 percent, below [...]

    Bits and Bytes « webnewser on August 22nd, 2007 at 2:47 pm - Permalink

  10. [...] people talking about the news today, NewTeeVee, The Movie Business Blog, Cleveland Blog, here is the Google search. [?] Share This Sphere: [...]

    TV Viewer ship is down | Streamaroo on August 22nd, 2007 at 5:06 pm - Permalink

  11. [...] NewTeeVee Surprise Surprise…TV Viewing Is Declining « (tags: culture newmedia tech tv) [...]

    links for 2007-08-23 » Alter Nativa on August 22nd, 2007 at 6:26 pm - Permalink

  12. who the hell watches 6 hours or more of TV per day?

    http://www.drunkenpanda.com

    bueller on August 22nd, 2007 at 8:18 pm - Permalink

  13. [...] TV subscriptions risk a similar fate of being replaced as the primary source of content access.” [+] Explore posts in the same categories: kill your television, [...]

    fUSION Anomalog. » Blog Archive » Kill That TV on August 22nd, 2007 at 9:34 pm - Permalink

  14. [...] IBM, via New Tee Vee, via Podcasting [...]

    TV or the Internet…what would you choose? « Connected Learning on August 22nd, 2007 at 11:27 pm - Permalink

  15. To Frank: while a lot of people are watching youtube on the Internet, not a lot of people are watching TV via the internet. And mobile devices? Please!! I’m the only person I’ve ever seen watching video content on their iPhone (and I see a LOT of iPhones in San Francisco). Mobile? Verizon’s VCast is so insignificant Verizon doesn’t even mention it in its latest quarterly report.

    Nielsen’s data on this is predictably a bit different. They do agree internet usage is rising, but if you read the story above, IBM didn’t say 19% were watching TV on the Internet 6 hours a day, they just said 19% are using the Internet 6 hours a day. E-mail, IMing, reading blogs…all things you can do with the TV on.

    Robert Seidman on August 22nd, 2007 at 11:59 pm - Permalink

  16. I did the same thing almost a year ago. Ditched the Dish Network box and replaced it with a Mac Mini. The money saved on Dish paid for the Mini in 10 months, and I never looked back. Lifes too short to channel surf. I follow one or two good shows at a time, the rest of the time I’m too busy to just sit and watch any bs that’s on.

    Bill Streeter on August 23rd, 2007 at 10:30 am - Permalink

  17. [...] [Via Monsters and Critics and NewTeevee] [...]

    Digital Media Bulletin » TV Losing Ground to the Internet on August 23rd, 2007 at 11:59 am - Permalink

  18. In the bad old days of communism, people had no shopping choice. they stood in long queues to buy bread or cheese or vodka, from government owned stores, offering no choice in brands, no discounts, no surprises…no fun. And then , with the collapse of communism, supermarkets happened. Broadcast TV meets the same fate with the coming of broadband. And exactly like in supermarkets, people will build blind trails to their most frequented alleys. They will find favorites in sports, or music, or news, or social networking or whatever else they wish to haul onto their trolley for the evening. Search engines can come handy, but only when looking for something out of the ordinary. Favorites will rule normally. But is there no catch ? Well, there is - the bandwidth. It will take the next decade before broadband replaces broadcast…note that it has taken comparable time for phones. The Negroponte switch will probably partially flip again (everything becomes wireless, and on-demand), but then only in the next decade.

    vinay on August 24th, 2007 at 3:38 am - Permalink

  19. [...] Club Penguin, and Social Networks: The kids are online. Whether they are alright remains to be seen TV views continue to decline, where are the eyeballs shifting? Duh. [...]

    Web Strategy Reading: August 26, 2007 on August 26th, 2007 at 8:15 am - Permalink

  20. [...] “internet killed the tv-star”. article via newteevee.com [...]

    EMAC » Blog Archive » internet time rivals tv viewership on August 27th, 2007 at 3:45 pm - Permalink

  21. [...] — in the US, the UK, Australia, Germany, and Japan — according to an IBM study to which Om Malik points us. Note also that TV networks’ share of online TV viewing is only about 33 percent, below [...]

    softexpose.com » Blog Archive » TV explodes: The chain reaction hits critical mass on August 29th, 2007 at 6:42 pm - Permalink

  22. [...] according to Zenith’s predictions, with spending on newspaper ads coming in second. But as television watching declines, perhaps it won’t be many more years before marketers prioritize online advertising over [...]

    Marketers Increasingly Realize the Audience is Online - GigaOM on December 3rd, 2007 at 10:15 am - Permalink

  23. [...] let me summarize my view of TV today. Viewership is declining and has been for years. Any number of research studies will show a decrease in the time people [...]

    TwiceFunded.com :: What’s Wrong with Television? on March 24th, 2008 at 9:04 am - Permalink

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