According to research released today by the European Interactive Advertising Association, 16- to 24-year-olds — a crucial audience for advertisers — are using the Internet more often than TV for the first time. The survey of more than 7,000 people across 10 European countries shows that 82 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds use the web between five and seven days a week while only 77 per cent watch TV as regularly — a drop of 5 per cent from last year.
Simon Woodward, CEO of ANT Software Ltd., a leading supplier of software and services to the digital TV industry, comments:
A dramatic shift is underfoot in the way we consume media. The youth market is a driving force for this change and there's no doubt that TV needs to look at its advertising model very seriously.
The promise of next-generation TV services such as IPTV is that it can combine some of the elements of traditional TV with the functionality of the web. So, in the future viewers might be able to connect with their social networks, IM people, play interactive games and combine it with integration of household applications, all via the TV set There is definitely an opportunity for the TV industry to learn from the successes of web TV and social networking sites and add applications to their next-generation services which can rival those on the web and provide entertainment outside of simple TV.
