Report:Internet Users spending half their time online with Content

US- A four year study of how internet users have been spending their time online has revealed that they are now spending 47% of their time with content (text,audio,video). The Internet Activity Index report was conducted by Online Publishers Association in association with Nielsen//NetRatings. The gain in share for content is followed closely by a gain in share for search. So what’s driving this increased play with online content.The report said ” The first is the online transition of traditionally offline activities, such as getting news, finding entertainment information or checking the weather. Quality content sites see a consistent pattern — major news drives traffic spikes, but traffic remains consistently higher even after the event. Major news events such as Hurricane Katrina and high profile seasonal events such as the NCAA Final Four Basketball tournament are clearly driving consumers to engage more deeply with online content.” Additionally, “new online features and communities are also leading consumers to spend a larger share of their online time with content. Consumers spend considerable time with social networking sites, which serve not only as places of content but are also increasingly important communications vehicles.“The Report found a number of other important factors behind the changes, including:

• A more accessible, and much faster, Internet is driving increased overall time spent online.
• The increased popularity of video is leading to more time being spent with online content.
• The improvement in search allows consumers to more easily and quickly find the exact content they are looking for, increasing the likelihood they will engage more deeply with that content.
• The Web simply offers far more content than it did even four years ago, increasing content’s share of time.
• The rise of instant messaging (IM) as a key communications tool has been a factor in communication’s reduction in share of time. IM is a more efficient communications vehicle than email.

Source: online-publishers.org