For the first time since 1997, consumers spent less time with media in 2006 than they did the previous year, as media usage per person declined 0.5% to 3,530 hours, due to changing consumer behaviors and digital media efficiencies, according to exclusive data released today by Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS), a private equity firm.
Meanwhile, total communications spending increased 6.8% to a record $885.2 billion, as industry growth exceeded that of nominal GDP in 2006 and in the 2001-2006 period, a trend that will continue over the next five years, according to the VSS Communications Industry Forecast 2007-2011. In addition, VSS projects that Internet advertising, including pure-play websites and digital extensions of traditional media, will replace newspapers as the largest ad medium in 2011.
(www.vss.com)