Archive notice: This article was originally published on February 16, 2009. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
While newspaper publishers and booksellers are coming under increasing pressure from declining readership, television alone among traditional media is proving nearly indestructible. Although media consumers now spend a great deal of time watching online video, they still devote record amounts of time to comparatively old-fashioned television. According to Nielsen Media Research, the average American spent around 142 hours per month in front of a television in the final quarter of 2008, about five hours more than in the same period a year earlier. Television therefore still has a clear lead over its growing online competitor, as US internet use currently averages only 27 hours per month, according to the researchers.
“The daily viewing time of the overall audience aged three and above remained almost unchanged in Germany between 2007 and 2008,” Sven Birgmeier, press spokesperson at media control, told pressetext.de. German citizens spent an average of 207 minutes per day in front of a television last year, only one minute less than the previous year. “With the internet and mobile phones, television has gained new competitors in recent years. But as various studies show, television remains well ahead of the internet in terms of time spent,” Bernhard Engel of ZDF’s media-research department added in an interview with pressetext.de.
The web is naturally ahead of traditional media in areas such as interactivity. “Television, however, offers an especially high-quality experience, which has been enhanced further by technical developments such as HDTV,” Engel emphasized. Other decisive factors are immediacy, emotional impact and a certain sense of togetherness among television audiences. “Television viewers remain anonymous and cannot interact with one another as they can online. But they also know that a television program is being watched simultaneously by millions of people around the world,” Engel explained.
Television’s ability to hold its own so well against other traditional media such as newspapers and books is also due in large part to its visual nature. “Text-oriented media are no longer as popular with consumers as they once were. Media containing moving images are now clearly ahead in user preference,” the ZDF media researcher explained. This applies to traditional media such as television as well as newer forms such as the internet. “We know from perceptual psychology that the effect of media content is more lasting the more senses it engages. In this respect, the visual stimulus of a television program is clearly superior to printed text,” Engel concluded.
