Consumers spend same time online as TV, but TV ad spending’s higher

Advertisers spent four times as much on television advertising last year as they did on all online advertising combined: display, search and classifieds, according to a new report from JupiterReseach. Marketers spent $68.3 billion on TV ads last year versus some $16.5 billion in online advertising.

Neither better targeting opportunities online nor the greater availability of branding-friendly rich media ad inventory online has led to any significant online cannibalization of TV ad spending, according to Jupiter’s report, “Media consumption patterns: Online vies with TV as primary medium.”

But that spending disparity doesn’t reflect the fact that online consumers now spend approximately equal amounts of time in online activities as they do in watching television, according to the report. Jupiter`s study found that both TV viewing and online use are up over the past five years, with the median time spent on each activity by online consumers now about 14 hours per week.

The research firm’s report does note that the “highly desirable” 18- to 24-year-old audience spends about twice as much time online, at a median 14 hours per week, as they spend watching TV, at a median seven hours per week. But the Internet is not the most effective way for reaching all young audiences. In contrast to young adults, teens, at a median 10 hours per week, spend more time watching TV than they spend online, at a median eight hours per week, Jupiter’s report found.

While brand marketers should use online vehicles to reach the young adult audience, “The Internet is no panacea for communicating with youth. Rather, multimedia campaigns are necessary,” according to the report. [via]