According to a Harris Interactive survey of U.S. Internet users, it appears the average users spends about 13 hours a week online, however, the range is very large.
Over the past decade, online time has doubled from just under 7 hours in 1999 to the current survey results. At its peak, in October 2008 (during the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the upcoming election of President Obama), online time was over 14 hours.
For age breakdowns, the group spending the most time online was the 30-39 age group, with an average of 18 hours. 25-29 year-olds spent 17 hours on average, as did 40-49 year-olds. In total, there are about 184 million adults online, the same number for the most part as 2008.
“The increase in the number of hours spent online in the last two years compared to all previous years is striking. It probably reflects a growing ability to use the Internet, an increase in sites and applications, increased TV watching online and increased purchasing online,” said Harris. “Also, hours online may have increased because of the recession. Going online is free; going out usually costs money.”
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The results of a new survey by Harris Interactive show that despite winning the hi-def format war Blu-ray isn’t showing any real signs it will become a mainstream success. In fact they indicate more people own standalone HD DVD players (11%) than Blu-ray players (7%).
When you factor in PS3 game consoles and the Xbox 360 add on HD DVD drive the numbers shift to favor Blu-ray, but it’s not as big a margin as you might expect. Even including these numbers, Blu-ray only holds a 2% lead (16% vs 14%).
Clearly those numbers don’t look right if you assume people are buying these players for their compatibility with the high definition format of their choice.
Unless the format of their choice is upscaled DVD. And in fact that’s what most people who responded to the survey seem to be indicating.
Even though respondents said they would buy fewer standard definition discs this year than last, they aren’t planning to convert those purchases to Blu-ray titles.
Barely more than a fifth of Blu-ray owners surveyed are replacing the titles in their DVD collection with Blu-ray versions. More than 40% are waiting for disc prices to drop before they expand their collection of high definition discs.
The picture gets worse when you look at people who don’t own Blu-ray players yet. More than 90% don’t plan to be buying one this year either.
This doesn’t mean manufacturers can’t change their minds with the right pricing strategy. But simply selling a player also won’t guarantee disc sales.
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A recently reported study that suggested large numbers of young gamers exhibit signs of addition to videogames has come under scrutiny from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). The trade group sent a letter to Dr Robert Kail (editor of Psychological Science), citing a blog by ABC News’ director of polling, Gary Langer, which called into question the claim that the results can be applied to the broader population.
The study, carried out by Professor Douglas Gentile, used data from Harris Interactive through an opt-in online survey. The survey itself actually reads, “because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.”
Gentile responded to this discovery by admitting making a mistake. “I’d assumed they had gathered the population initially as part of a random probability sample, I missed that when I was writing this up. That is an error then on my part.” Michael Gallagher, CEO of The ESA, wrote in his letter to Dr Kail: “The concern arises from the fact that the sample group for the study was not randomly chosen… It was a ‘convenience’ sample of individuals who agreed to participate in the survey.”
“As you are likely aware, such a sample is not truly representative of a national population group. Thus the results cannot be projected onto the broader population of children in this country. And the sampling error of plus or minus 3 per cent that Dr Gentile cited in the study is also meaningless,” he wrote. “Based on the public comments of both Dr Gentile and Harris Interactive, we are requesting that any references to the study in your publication and on your website, clarify the methodological flaws in Dr Gentile’s study and inform your readers how those flaws affect the accuracy of the study.”
