Company News · March 29, 2010

More Americans Would Give Up Television If Forced To Choose

By Edison Research

New insights from forthcoming Arbitron/Edison Infinite Dial 2010 debuting April 8th

For the first time more people would choose to eliminate television from their lives than the Internet if they were forced to choose, according to the new Infinite Dial 2010 survey from Arbitron and Edison Research. When presented with the ‘false choice’ of either never again watching television, or never again accessing the Internet, slightly more people would eliminate television. Just over 49% said they would eliminate television, compared to a little over 48% who said eliminate the Internet.

“When we first asked this question in 2001, the spread was 72% for eliminating Internet and 26% for eliminating television – the shift over these nine years has been steady and profound” said Edison Research president Larry Rosin. Bill Rose, senior vice president of marketing at Arbitron added, “If you look at those under age 45 the gap towards eliminating television is much greater.”

These findings come from a national survey of 1,753 persons ages 12 and over. This is the 18th in a series of studies Arbitron and Edison have conducted since 1998 on topics relating to the Internet and New Media. The complete study will be presented in a webinar on April 8th at 2PM and interested parties can register here.

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