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1:00 AM Wed 11 Mar 2009 GMT
 | | 'As well as cost-savings and accountability for advertisers, there’s the immediacy and interactive nature of online that appeals to consumers.'
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In the US and Australia, internet media is overtaking all forms of traditional media for reader loyalty and time spent consuming.
The average Australian now spends an hour-and-a-half of their leisure time online each day, according to a recent global digital study conducted by market information group TNS.
The Digital World, Digital Life study, which investigated online behaviour, found that Australians spend one-third of their leisure time online. A total of 27,522 people aged 18 to 55 years were interviewed online in 16 countries for the study at the end of 2008.
Director of technology research at TNS Sydney, Marcus Pritchard, says: "The figures from our study show how far the internet has progressed in becoming part of our daily lives. We're finding Australians becoming more and more engaged in social networking, online communities and virtual worlds."
Globally, the amount of leisure time spent online overall was similar, but several Asian nations, such as China (44% of their leisure time on the internet), Korea (40%) and Japan (38%), are leading the way in terms of spare time spent online.
In the UK, people are spending 28% of their leisure time online, and in the US people are spending 30% of their spare time in online pursuits.
In Australia, one in two Australians use social networking sites, such as Facebook or MySpace. On average Australians were members of 2.7 different sites, with the global average membership at 2.5 different sites. Korea leads the way at 4.6.
"Apart from social networking sites, however, we're not active contributors to the internet. We're more feeders from it.
"Content general is not the key activity here," says Pritchard. "We're information downloaders - we'll take what's there but not always provide content."
While awareness of web 2.0 in Australia is high, contribution to these mediums is low, particularly when compared to other countries. While 93% are aware of blogs, only 40% have accessed them and only 13% have contributed. Likewise, many (83%) are aware of virtual worlds, but only 26% have viewed or contributed to these sites, such as SecondLife. Awareness of wikis is lower at 71%, with only 6% having contributed.
In the US, the forecast for traditional media is that it must brace itself for the inevitable shift from advertising-supported print and broadcast media to entertainment such as the Internet, video games and cable TV.
As a result, the boom in online advertising is expected to continue, with all Internet advertising spending - including ads on Web sites of traditional media outlets - overtaking print newspaper advertising in 2010 as the largest advertising category, according to a r media investment firm, Veronis Suhler Stevenson.
From 2001 to 2006, the average amount of time spent by the typical consumer on paid media jumped 19.8 percent. Over the same period, overall time spent with traditional or ad-supported media - such as broadcast television, radio and newspapers - declined 6.3 percent, the study found.
The study expects total Internet advertising to grow an average of 21 percent through 2011, including online-only outlets such as Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. as well as digital revenues from traditional media outlets such as newspaper publishers and TV broadcasters.
In 2010, that would put overall online ad spending at $54 billion (?39.1 billion), overtaking print-only newspaper advertising as the largest advertising category, which is expected to stand at $51.5 billion (?37.3 billion) that year.
by Media Services
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