Internet to overtake the TV in the next 14 months
The internet is set to over take broadcast TV consumption as Europe’s most consumed form of media for the first time
in June 2010.
The predictions made by Microsoft is down to the current trends of internet use in recent years, highlighting that the internet is become a popular medium to consume TV content.
The results, released in the Microsoft report, ‘Europe Logs On: Internet Trends of Today and Tomorrow’ predict that internet consumption in 2010 will average 14.2 hours per week, or over 2.5 days a month, compared to 11.5 hours per week or two days a month, for TV.
The report described TV as becoming a two-way connected experience delivered via broadband to multiple screens including TV, PC and mobile.
Results showed that the PC, for many 18-24 year olds is the only screen used for all their media consumption, while others still use the computer as a second or third screen to the TV.
The report found that one in seven 18-24 year olds frequently watch video on demand, and rarely watch live TV at all.
Over the next five years the PC is expected to move from being a completely dominant internet device (today accounting for 95% of the access) to representing just 50 per cent of internet usage, as other web devices grow in personality, such as, TV, mobile phones and games consoles.
The report also found that currently, almost 50 per cent of Europeans now have an internet connection and users spend almost nine hours a week using the web is 2008, up 27 per cent from 2004. These results proved that people spend more time on the internet than they do reading print media, watcing movies offline or plaing video games.
There is still a prominant divide between the North and South of Europe, with the North having a internet penetration rate of 76 per cent on average, compared to 45 per cent in the South.
Jeffrey Cole, centre for digital future director at USC Annenberg School, said, “Rather than shrinking, television will only grow in importance. TV no longer refers to the big screen in the home but to audio and visual content that will be watched everywhere.
“It will become our constant companion as it escapes from the home for the first time via the mobile phone and netbook PC.”
John Mangelaars, vice president of Microsoft consumer and online, EMEA, said, “The three screens-TV, mobile and PC will remain the most important media and technology in our lives.
“While today the experience is fragmented across multiple media devices and environments-from the living room television to the bedroom PC to the portable music player and mobile phone-in future, software from Microsoft and others will enable connected, integrated, entertainment experiences.”
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