Internet users in the Middle East are spending more time online than watching television, according to a new survey.

The survey published by online research company Effective Measure and carried out in conjunction with Spot On Public Relations, an integrated communications firm, showed that 88 per cent of Internet users in the region access the Internet daily.

Many of the 2500 internet users surveyed across Mena spend more time on the Internet than they do watching television.

“The survey clearly shows that people are accessing the Internet throughout the day and night, while other media such as newspapers, radio and television have peak times of usage,” said Brendon Ogilvy, CEO of Effective Measure.

“In addition, more people are accessing the Internet on a daily basis and spending longer online, both in browsing and in updating social networks, than they are spending consuming ‘traditional’ media such as newspapers, radio, television and magazines.”

“The findings show a real movement in the way people are accessing information here in the region,” he added.

Of the 71 per cent of respondents who said they watched television daily, most (80 per cent) watching in the evening between 8-12 pm. Most people listened to radio and read newspapers in the morning (between 6 am and 3 pm).

Respondents reported they accessed the Internet relatively evenly throughout the day. While 60 per cent of people spent between 1-3 hours watching television daily, 68 per cent spent longer (between 1 and 6 hours) using the Internet.

Respondents spent the least time reading newspapers and magazines, with over 80 per cent giving between 30 minutes and one hour to these activities daily.

“Few would doubt that the region is moving online, but it’s interesting to quantify how much time people are spending consuming information online compared to other forms of media,” said Spot On PR managing director Carrington Malin.

“Our survey also analyses how people are using the Internet. Among users of social media, for instance, there are strong associations of social contact, friendship, free expression and sharing – and over 70 per cent of respondents to the survey report they are using Facebook.”

Respondents cited email as the activity they most often carried out online (73 per cent), while social networking (41 per cent) and searching for information related to hobbies (42 per cent) were popular activities.

Over 40 per cent of respondents said they most frequently searched for information on products or actively purchased products online. – TradeArabia News Service