Among the Young, the Internet is Displacing Traditional Media Much Sooner Than Expected, According to a New Study By Chicago-Based Round Table Group.

Business Editors

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 11, 2000

Nationwide phone survey shows Internet has replaced

television, newspapers as top source of key information

for young adults, 67% of whom are already online

The Internet is quickly displacing older media such as television and newspapers as the prime source of important information for America's youngest adults, according to a new survey by the Round Table Group, a Chicago-based consortium of 3,000 university professors that consults on high tech start-ups and provides high level executive education.

According to a nationwide telephone poll of 1,014 households commissioned by the group, 67% of Americans aged 18 to 24 live in households that use the Internet to gather key information, compared to a nationwide average of just 46% who use the Internet for that purpose.

Among those young adult Internet users, 59% say that their household currently receives more "useful information" from the Internet than from the newspapers. And 53% say that they receive more "useful information" from the Internet than from television.

"The huge conversion of Generation X from newspaper and television consumption to Internet usage helps explain the urgency of huge media deals such as the recent AOL/Time Warner merger," says Russ Rosenzweig, CEO of the Round Table Group. "Traditional media has a right to feel fearful of these rapidly changing demographics. The changeover is happening much more rapidly than anyone predicted."

Indeed, according to the survey, fully 84% of 18-to-24-year-old Internet users say that their household is more likely to use the Internet to retrieve useful information than they are likely to go to the public library. And when they need to answer a specific question, 68% of those households are more likely to consult the Internet than turn to a newspaper, and 67% are more likely to consult the Internet than rely on television.

Seventy-three percent of Internet households in the 18-to-24 age group say they have used the Internet to retrieve work-related information. And 47% of that age group say that someone in their household would probably be interested in taking an educational course over the Internet for work or for other purposes.

Which groups have been the slowest to log onto the Internet? It's still the elderly, the poor, and those with the lowest level of educational achievement, according to the study. In American households with incomes under $25,000, 68% do not use the Internet, and 67% of Americans who have not completed high school do not have Internet users in their households. Of those aged 65 and higher, 70% live in households that do not use the Internet.

But according to the survey, Internet usage by white, black and Hispanic households is approximately equal, with only 43% of white households and 43% of black households lacking Internet access, compared to 38% of Hispanic households that lack Internet access. The telephone survey of 1,014 American households was conducted with the assistance of Opinion Research Corp. International of Princeton, N.J.