1/2 of User Time Devoted to Content

OPA: 1/2 of User Time Devoted to Content
A study released today by the Online Publishers Association shows that users are increasingly consuming content more than any other online activity. While this is a prime example of a study that should be taken with a grain of salt, a 37% increase in time spent on content over the past 4 years is impressive.
The OPA homepage includes updated Internet Activity Index numbers through June (below), placing the most recent number at 49.6% of time spent.
Source: OPA and Nielsen/NetRatings

OPA president Pam Horan pointed to several factors leading the shift toward increased consumption of content including:
the online transition of traditionally offline activities, such as getting news, finding entertainment information or checking the weather …Major news events such as Hurricane Katrina and high profile seasonal events such as the NCAA Final Four Basketball tournament are clearly driving consumers to engage more deeply with online content.”
Horan goes on to state that new online features (read web 2.0) and communities including social networking sites are leading this online shift from communication to content consumption.
It’s probable that the rapid advance of web technologies in the past few years including AJAX and rich user interfaces is improving efficiency in communication and search. As a result, users are spending less time on basic communication just as more engaging content including online video is flooding the web.

OPA: 1/2 of User Time Devoted to Content