Forrester in their recently released report, titled “Consumer Behavior Online: A 2009 Deep Dive,” shows that overall time spent on the Internet has remained at 12 hours per week, same as last years report. They compare that with TV viewing consumption at 13 hours per week and seemingly unchanged since 2004.

The problem I have with such high level survey statements is they don’t tell the whole story. What’s missing and what I’d really like to see is a breakdown by the amount of solo time spent per activity and the amount of time spent multi-tasking. How much of the 12 hours online also included watching TV at the same time? How much was just online and how much was just TV? Did Forrester ask this question? Many, many people these days, including nearly everyone I speak with in tech circles, tell me that they’re multi-tasking on the Internet even when they are watching TV. For example, right now I am writing this blog post but I also have the SF Giants game on the TV. Do I claim this as TV time or Internet time or was their an option for both? That would be interesting to know.

Also, the chart clearly shows a decline in reading newspapers, magazines and radio but doesn’t tell us if those are some of the activities that people perform online instead. We hear all the news headlines, no one reads news papers or magazines anymore or no one listens to the radio any longer. They try to make it sound as if we are not reading anything about news events, but I argue that we are actually consuming MORE news and media than ever before. It’s just not in the traditional printed or broadcast form. With the ease of the Internet to get info on my schedule about things I’m interested TV, radio and print will never be able to match. It’s no surprise that people aren’t using the traditional forms of media anymore but don’t assume that means that people are not read or informed. I’d like to see user response to where they get their news these days.

I think TV is also understated. Most people don’t want to admit they consumer more than 12 hours a week

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