Study: 27% go online for fun

Online marketers have long wondered exactly how users spend their time online. A new Media-Screen study sheds light on the online activities of broadband users. According to the research more users are going online for entertainment than ever before. Can marketers take advantage of more users looking for fun video clips, playing games or social networking?

by Kristina Knight

"We have found that consumers, on a typical weekday, spend more than 40% of their time consuming media online. As more of the population goes online and there are more marketing channels, it will be imperative for the entertainment industry to know how to effectively allocate marketing and advertising dollars," said Josh Crandall, managing director of Media-Screen.

The research indicates that broadband users spend nearly 50% of their spare time online, with much of that time spent on entertainment activities - games, social networking and video/picture sharing. Roughly 27% of online time is spent with leisure/entertainment endeavors, 27% of time is spent on communication, 12% spend time shopping and about 9% of time is spent finding news and information.

For online marketers, then, focusing advertising efforts on gaming and social networking websites first is a viable option. More users are signing on to networking sites like MySpace, Bebo and Facebook every day. Advertising with MMOG sites could also be a good idea. Online gamers have indicated an openness for embedded ads and many have said that real display ads add a level of authenticity to their favorite games.