When the subjects were asked to recall their media consumption behaviors, “people underestimated the amount of time they spent with TV by a substantial amount,” about 25 percent on average. – Mr. Wakshlag
- Average Americans are exposed to 61 minutes of TV ads and promotions every day.
- An Average Adult are exposed to some form of digital screen (TV, GPS, Cellphones, Computers) for 8.5 hours a day.
- Computer usage has supplanted radio as the second most common media activity
These are some of the statistics found by the Council for Research Excellence, formed by the Nielsen Company. The $3.5 million dollar study was started to determine whether media companies needed new ways to measure media. Ball State University’s Center of Media Design conducted the study and called it the largest observational look at media usage ever conducted. Rather than surveys, researches shadowed 350 people (over 18 years of age) and recorded their behavior in 10 second increments for 952 days.
Consistent Exposure to Media among All Ages
They found that the number of minutes exposed to advertising was consistent among all the age groups other than 45-54 year olds who spend on average an extra hours more in front of the screen.
“It flies in the face of conventional wisdom, of course, which tells us that the younger cohorts apparently spend more time with screen-based media,” said Michael Bloxham, a director of the center at Ball State.