Counterpoints to Media in Canada Article:

Ipsos - internet beats TV in hours spent

Media in Canada | March 22, 2010 - article

This article claims that time spent online by "Canadians" overtook time spent with television in the final quarter of 2009. It goes on to quote the following statistics for each demo:
 

Counterpoints:

1. As stated in the last paragraph of the offending article, this 100% online survey of 839 people is not representative of the Canadian population. While they have tried to approximate a representative sample, as a 100% online survey, it is not representative.
    
2. This is a self report survey, and while self report surveys are widely used and accepted in our industry, they report "claimed" behaviour rather than "actual" behaviour. Many observational studies have shown that what people report they do is in most cases not what they actually do. The move from self report diaries to PPM in the Radio industry clearly highlights this phenomenon. When compared to diary data, PPM clearly showed that time spent with radio had been vastly over reported in the diaries.
    
3. National measurement for the television industry is now based on Portable People Meters (PPM) which accurately record exposure to television and do not rely on people having to remember and report how much television they watch. It is incredibly erroneous to report time spent with television based on an unrepresentative online survey of 839 people. Below are the actual measured figures for television during that time period as recorded by PPM and compared against the Ipsos numbers which vastly under report the amount of time spent with television:
   
   

   Demo	TV time Ipsos Survey	TV time PPM meters
   "Canadians"/P2+ (PPM)	16.9	27.7
   A18-34	13.0	23.8
   A35+	na	31.3
   A55+	20.0	37.0

    
4. Measurement for the online industry is done by comScore, and like meters, comScore produces measured as opposed to reported data.  Similar to the results above, the Ipsos survey vastly over reports the amount of time spent online in Q4 2009 by the reported demos .
    

   Demo	Online time Ipsos Survey	Online time comScore
   "Canadians"/P2+ (comScore)	18.1	9.7
   A18-34	20.0	10.5
   A35+	18.0	9.5
   A55+	na	7.8

    
5. The table below compares the time spent online and the time spent with TV using the measured industry currencies for both.  Compare this to the Ipsos figures at the top of this page and it will highlight the problems associated with a poor sample and reported vs. measured data.
    
   

   Demo	Online time comScore	TV time PPM meters
   "Canadians"/P2+ (comScore)	9.7	27.7
   A18-34	10.5	23.8
   A35+	9.5	31.3
   A55+	7.8	37.0