Households that have both televisions and Internet or online access tend to breed fewer couch potatoes, according to the results of a new study.
What the study does not show, however, is whether Net surfing is the cause of a decrease in TV viewership in those homes, said a spokesman for Nielsen Media Research, the company which carried out the research.
The study, which Nielsen produced for America Online in the US showed that Internet/online households watch 15 per cent less TV overall (Monday to Sunday, all 24 hours) than homes that aren't "wired". In addition, wired households watch eight hours less television per week compared to non-Internet/online households.
The greatest disparity between TV viewing and Internet use comes in the late afternoon Monday to Friday when television usage is 19 per cent lower among Internet/online households, Nielsen said. The "early fringe" period, or 68 p.m. Monday to Friday saw 16 per cent fewer wired homes watching TV.
Prime time is still king, though: Between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Monday to Friday, television usage is just 6 per cent lower among Netenabled homes. During "late fringe", or 11 p.m. through 1 a.m., Monday to Friday, television usage is 9 per cent lower among Internet/online households, Nielsen said.
Nielsen used its People Meter sample for the study, company officials said. Nielsen closely examined television and Internet usage of its panel members during January 1998, "traditionally one of the highest-rated months for television usage", the company said. That panel included a total of 4,471 households, 22 per cent of which had online or Internet access.
Nielsen conducted the study in co-operation with America Online, which claimed that the new research "underscores the significance of advertising online".
Nielsen spokesman, Mr Jack Loftus, was quick to point out that this particular study did not show a "causal relationship" between Internet usage between home computer usage and TV viewership.
"We cannot say that Internet households watch less TV because of the Internet," Mr Loftus said. Many of the homes that have Internet access are upmarket, he said, and they "generally watch less TV than other households".
Mr Loftus said the only way to establish a causal relationship between Internet usage and TV viewing is to study the effects of TV before people started surfing the Net, and then look at the same criteria after they gained Internet access. Nielsen is currently studying these effects, independent of AOL, he added.
