Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Next Year, People Will Spend More Time Online Than They Will Watching TV. That's a First. (recode.net)

Posted by msmash on from the times-they-are-changin' dept.

Rani Molla, writing for Recode: It's finally happening: Next year, people around the world will spend more time online than they do watching TV, according to new data from measurement company Zenith. In 2019, people are expected to spend an average of 170.6 minutes each day on online activities like watching videos on YouTube, sharing photos on Facebook and shopping on Amazon. They'll spend slightly less time -- 170.3 minutes -- watching TV. The global transition from TV to internet as the main entertainment medium was a long time coming, but it also happened faster than expected. Last year, Zenith predicted that TV would still be more popular in 2019 but has since revised its estimates.

49 of 74 comments (clear)

  1. But I watch TV online... by Kenja · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Not sure that "cord cutters" are properly tracked by these metrics.

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    1. Re:But I watch TV online... by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 2

      I just saw a youtube video with one of my favorite TV stars- a man who found success first in Canadian television, then selling his show to American PBS networks, that did 15 seasons and a movie.

      He's now producing new content in the character online, and his sons have started a Twitch channel in which they show an episode and give additional director's style commentary interactive with a chat window.

      In the interview with network news, this actor/producer/creator said he'd never touch TV again, and had the web been well developed as it is now back in 1990 when he started, his show would never have been seen on TV at all.

      It isn't just viewers who are fed up with the big business that advertising-and-tax-supported-television brings with it. It's the content creators.

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    2. Re:But I watch TV online... by sycodon · · Score: 1

      Watching TV online.

      That's a wash

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    3. Re:But I watch TV online... by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

      Better yet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMqhs6GQwpM

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    4. Re:But I watch TV online... by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      Or even on many minor networks.
      Network TV seems to have an 8th grade education baseline for its Smart for Adults TV Shows.
      While I am not a Hardware Person (I had one class in college with breadboards making simple logic circuits.), I was watching a video on You Tube about how to layout chips for a PCB to be manufactured. The video didn't bother explaining how electricity goes threw conductive sources. But things like sizing for the correct voltage, aligning things in logic order and in a ways you can easily solder it. Also noting not to put in 90 degree bends as it is bad form. Being a guy who just as a passing interests in electronics (I specialize in programming) I learned new stuff, and best practices. For the average Joe, Who never even hooked a light-bulb to a battery, or got an LED to work without burning it out. Much of this was over their head, and the content would had been boring not informative.

      Network TV will tend to dumb down stuff, just so it can reach the mass of the audience. Sites like You Tube, may be extremely advanced, or really simple. Being some videos are meant to skip over the easy stuff, and replay the hard stuff, and link to other videos that explains a topic that may be glossed over.

      However the side effect is that sites like you tube have a lot of useless crap, and click bate. But at least if you find it you and stop playing it and jump to the next thing.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    5. Re:But I watch TV online... by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      Network Broadcast TV. Has the problem of trying to reach as many people as possible. It needs to be entertaining, but it cannot be insulting, informative, but shouldn't go over peoples heads.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    6. Re:But I watch TV online... by doconnor · · Score: 1

      Steve Smith of The Red Green Show?

    7. Re:But I watch TV online... by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      That's a problem though. I get 500 channels piped into my house. There really should be more variety. Yet we end up with the fireplace channel, the sunset channel, and the swiss chalet rotisserie chicken channel. I can't even watch major cycling races in Canada even though I have 15 different sport channels. Instead they opt to have the same game playing on all of them.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    8. Re:But I watch TV online... by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      It is worse then that, some of the channels I use to love to watch in the old days, Cartoon Network, the Learning Channel, BBC America... Use to have a variety of shows to watch. Now Cartoon Network only has Teen Titan Go, The Learning Channel has my 600lbs life, and BBC America swaps to Star Trek and Dr. Who.

      Sure they may be the popular shows, but having them on all the time at the cost of other gems they have rights too is a wast and there is only so much (for some of the show 1 is too much) of these shows I can watch.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    9. Re:But I watch TV online... by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

      That was the description of the Red Green Show in a nutshell. Well, also, thoughts disconnected from action, from brains, well, from anything really (from another TV interview where he let the Interviewer try to play Red Green for a build that replaced a tire with old shoes).

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    10. Re:But I watch TV online... by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

      Yep. Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati.

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    11. Re:But I watch TV online... by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

      Not only that but I should mention- he's released all 300 episodes to Youtube of the old content, and he occasionally snips out a Handiman Corner or an Adventures With Bill to let his Youtube subscribers know things he wants them to know (Shows the clip, then an announcement).

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    12. Re:But I watch TV online... by satsuke · · Score: 1

      Your youtube example is also not targeted at the masses, it's someone sharing what they enjoy and educating people ion the process.

      Otherwise known as a microtargeted or niche program, and it's what the majority of my educated and millenial age friends consume.

      e.g. there are copious beauty application videos online .. a motivated person can just find a look they like and watch how to recreate it

  2. Does both at the same time by Zorro · · Score: 2

    Multitasking, look it up.

    1. Re:Does both at the same time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The art of doing more than one thing at once poorly.

  3. Didn't have to be this way by Verdatum · · Score: 1

    If TV hadn't been sucking more and more each season since around the 2007 WGA strike, I'd happily continue to watch TV.

    1. Re:Didn't have to be this way by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      That was the year they came out with a bunch of reality TV shows and discovered that they could still get people to watch, without paying any high priced writers or actors. Giving somebody a million dollar prize or a recording contract is peanuts compared to the million dollars an episode that star actors demand.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
  4. Content owners are same for both by OffTheLip · · Score: 2

    Since much of TV is owned by large internet providers I don't see much of a need to separate "online" from "tv".

  5. Or maybe... by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

    "Not if we have anything to do with it!" - Ajit Pai.

    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  6. Shit Headline by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 1

    >> Next Year, People Will Spend More Time Online Than They Will Watching TV. That's a First.

    People Will Finally Spend More Time Online Than Watching TV in 2019: Study

    FTFY - no charge. (Flipping millennial copywriters - yeesh.)

  7. Don't Worry by Comboman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Don't Worry. Just because people aren't watching TV, doesn't mean they're doing anything useful or god forbid actually learning something. They've just replaced one passive, intellectually hollow activity for another. Soap operas and sitcoms have been replaced by social media and Amazon shopping.

    --
    Support Right To Repair Legislation.
    1. Re:Don't Worry by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      Why do you think it would be different?
      Before TV people just got drunk and cause problems.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    2. Re:Don't Worry by lucasnate1 · · Score: 1

      I'm curious, and how do you spend your free time?

      --
      Avantgarde Hebrew science fiction
    3. Re:Don't Worry by c-A-d · · Score: 1

      I'm curious, and how do you spend your free time?

      Shitposting on slashdot?

      --
      some karma... and kinda lukewarm about it.
  8. How do you even count this? by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How do you even count this?

    Is watching Amazon video on the PC "TV"? On your phone?

    Old sitcoms on YouTube?

  9. Wha? by Train0987 · · Score: 1

    People will spend more time watching TV online using their former TV as a 2nd monitor.

  10. Almost six hours of "screen time"? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 1

    170 + 170 = 340; that's almost six hours a day of "screen time". No wonder unemployment is at an all time low.

    1. Re:Almost six hours of "screen time"? by lucasnate1 · · Score: 1

      But most jobs are done in front of a screen.

      --
      Avantgarde Hebrew science fiction
    2. Re:Almost six hours of "screen time"? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 1

      This is IN ADDITION to that. So, 14 hours for many people...

  11. Definition of "TV" by DogDude · · Score: 2

    I define "watching TV" as staring at a screen, getting stupider. People are just staring at different screens. They're still getting just as stupid, though.

    --
    I don't respond to AC's.
  12. Im not sure you can really differentiate the two by voss · · Score: 2

    People watch their favorite programs on netflix or amazon is that counted as tv watching or being online?
    People can watch live channels of both tv and radio online. When someone watches streaming tv on their phone
    does that count being online , watching tv, or being on your phone?

  13. The Couch Potato Evolved Into the Mouse Potato by imperious_rex · · Score: 2

    Same (in)activity, different venue. Is anybody really surprised by this? People are very well trained to be consumers, not producers. For most people, producing something (let alone something of value) is WORK not leisure.

    1. Re:The Couch Potato Evolved Into the Mouse Potato by Cederic · · Score: 1

      A lot of online activity is creative and/or interactive. I think that makes it much better for the people involved.

      It's also often social, which is substantially better than watching TV alone.

  14. Maybe not by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    If the repeal of Net Neutrality sticks and things go as poorly as they potentially could, people may be spending more time doing anything but using the Internet -- if they even bother paying for it anymore. If ISPs start mucking up the works enough people might just get frustrated enough to throw up their hands and just walk away from it.

    1. Re:Maybe not by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      Does Trump have any idea of the mess he's creating in the name of money?

      I'll assume that's a rhetorical question because the answer is an obvious and resounding 'NO'. You can't run a country 'like a business', the goals and concepts are incompatible, and in the specific case of one Donald J. Trump, it's irrelevant whether you could run a country that way or not because he's actually a pretty shitty businessman as well as completely out of his depth as POTUS, and as the months of his administration drag on that becomes more and more evident. It'll take decades to repair all the damage he's done thusfar let alone if he survives the entire 4 years or (shudder! The horror!) manages somehow to get re-elected (in which case there may not be much of a country left).

  15. The real shocker by TimMD909 · · Score: 1

    From what it says, the average person is wasting about 20 hours a week mindlessly consuming content. That's about a month and a half of wasted time by the end of the year...

  16. The strike didn't make TV suck by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    the 2008 crash (and lack of a real recovery) did. There's less money to go around, meaning less money going into new shows and less risk taking on new ideas.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  17. No longer a relevant measure by trevc · · Score: 3

    I don't think 'how long you spend online' is a valid measurement anymore. We no longer use dial-up to connect to the internet. With phones and tablets, home automation and so-on we are 'online' 24x7.

    1. Re:No longer a relevant measure by grep+-v+'.*'+* · · Score: 1

      we are 'online' 24x7

      Pshaw, amateurs. Try 4x24x7, and that's on the devices I can see right now, NM the server farm in the background. And let's not talk about the open tabs in the background (or the saved bookmarks -- oh, the HUMANITY! My eyes! The goggles do nothing!)

      --
      If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
  18. Re:Im not sure you can really differentiate the tw by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    I count watching Netflix, Hulu and others as "watching TV" because it's the same passive entertainment no matter which delivery method you use to get it.

    But when talking about YouTube, things can get a lot more complicated. Are you passively watching a playlist of videos or are you searching for information and watching tutorials where the ability to pause, rewind and ask questions to the author of the video is important?

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  19. Re:Not me! by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    I refure to own one of these so-called "abacus" or "record player". My sticks and singing bird work just fine for me, thank you!

    Sent by carrier pigeon.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  20. Meaningless stat by LordZardoz · · Score: 1

    'Being Online' is way too broad a descriptor for spending leisure time.

    I do not see any reason to differentiate between watching standard cable / broadcast TV and watching a movie, tv show, or other video content via a Netflix / Hulu / YouTube / whatever.

    END COMMUNICATION

  21. Re:Not me! by Thud457 · · Score: 1

    As mandated by 47 U.S.C. ss 154, the obligatory:
    Area Man Constantly Mentioning He Doesn't Own A Television

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  22. Been There by amiga3D · · Score: 1

    I've been spending more time online than watching TV for over 2 decades. I remember dialing up a BBS that had shell account access to the internet and running an IRC client on the internet before there was home internet dialup in my neck of the woods. It was more fun and interesting than almost anything on TV. My kids hated it when I took over the TV anyway, they didn't like watching NOVA.

    1. Re:Been There by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but we hogged the phone line.

      And, seriously, 1989 for me.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  23. Duh! by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

    I already watch all my TV online!

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  24. Re:Im not sure you can really differentiate the tw by Peter+P+Peters · · Score: 1

    People watch their favorite programs on netflix or amazon is that counted as tv watching or being online?

    I consider 'TV' to mean 'force fed commercials and advertising'. So by that definition Netflix is being online. It'a small but important difference since TV, like Facebook and Google, exist primarily for advertising purposes. Netflix exists primarily for entertainment (and to a lesser extent learning since they have a few good documentaries). This is an important distinction because once you get used to a 'no-ad' format of entertainment, you learn quickly not to tolerate it. This should result in quite a shift in the mental state of many people.

  25. Online TV? by TJHook3r · · Score: 1

    How do they differentiate between internet time spent watching Netflix (ie TV), and internet time spent doing internet things eg Facebook?

  26. Good Comment by riyaservice · · Score: 1

    its nice line