Monday, August 18, 2008

TV Remains Top News Source

Television still remains the leading news source but online news consumption
is increasing:


Pew said the results show an increasing shift toward online
news consumption, but that there is now a sizable group of
a more engaged, sophisticated and well-off people that use
both traditional and online sources to get their news.

The Pew researchers referred to these people as "integrators,"
and says they account for 23 percent of those surveyed, spending
the most time with the news on a typical day.

"Like Web-oriented news consumers, integrators are affluent
and highly educated. However they are older, on average, than
those who consider the Internet their main source of news," the
survey said.

It is this group that advertisers typically like to target, which
helps explain why newspaper publishers have seen sharp declines
in ad revenues as spending shifts online.

Pew found that the largest group of news consumers — 46
percent of those polled — have a "heavy reliance" on television
for their news at all times of the day. This group is the oldest,
with a median age of 52, and least affluent, with 43 percent
unemployed. They are unlikely to own a computer or go online
for news.


One only has to look my post from this weekend to realize why television
isn't always a good medium to get news from.