Web now exceeds newspaper use in U.S.

Steve Safran December 15th, 2006

We spend a ton of time with the media. An average of more than 3,500 hours a year,in fact. A report from the Census Bureau breaks down those 3,518 hours for us and finds that in 2007, for the first time, Americans will spend more time on the web than they do with their newspapers. Here’s the breakdown: TV: 1,555 hours (up from 1,467 in the year 2000); Radio: 975 hours (up from 942 in 2000); Internet: 195 hours (up from 104); Newspapers: 175 hours (down from 201); Magazines: 122 hours (down from 135); Books: 106 hours (down only an hour); Video Games: 86 hours (up from 64). Good perspective there. But how/why will we continue to break apart these numbers in a world of broadband TV, online gaming, audiobooks, newspapers that successfully produce video, radio podcasts, etc.? Web time usage has nearly doubled since 2000 and every other medium is moving toward it.