TV, PAPERS HOLDING THEIR OWN WEB STILL TRAILS OTHER MEDIA.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

Traditional forms of media are managing to hold their own against the Internet as the public's appetite for news increased since the 9-11 terrorist attacks, according to the results of a study released Wednesday.

The Vertis Customer Focus Study found that readership of newspapers increased 7 percent since 2000 and that prime-time television continues to be the primary source of news and information for consumers.

``There has been a significant amount of research published that suggests that the Internet is chipping away at traditional forms of media usage and communication,'' said Therese Mulvey, vice president of marketing research at Vertis. ``However, the findings show that, although Internet usage has increased by 8 percent, consumers' use of TV, newspapers and radio has increased at a comparative level, and these outlets are still far more popular.''

Baltimore, Md.-based Vertis, a provider of technology-based integrated marketing and advertising solutions, annually surveys 3,000 adults to measure both general and industry-specific shopping trends.

The survey, first conducted in 1998, asked respondents about their media usage over a seven-day period. An overwhelming 87 percent of those surveyed said they had watched prime-time television, 78 percent had read the newspaper and 70 percent had listened to the radio.

All three results were at least 4 percent higher than totals from two years earlier.

``We definitely see an uptick in magazines, newspapers and magazines and we attribute that specifically to Sept. 11,'' said Scott Morden, director of strategic marketing at Vertis. ``It can also be attributed to people cocooning more and, while they are home, they have a wide array of media available to them from television to newspapers to Internet.''

A total of 40 percent of respondents had read a magazine during the seven-day period in 2002, up 3 percent from 2000 totals. But the biggest jump came in Internet usage, which climbed from 32 percent to 40 percent.

Josh Fouts, editor of USC Annenberg Online Journalism Review said the survey results are not a surprise to him.

``It confirms my suspicions all along that the Web is and has been largely a niche resource,'' Fouts said. ``A lot of people use it as an alternative to the media that they are most comfortable with, which is television and radio. There is a convenience aspect to those that the Web has not fully evolved into.''

While Internet usage is one the rise, Mulvey said, readership of traditional advertising inserts has grown in the last two years, especially among females 25 years old and younger (up 13 percent). Special offers and discounts through direct male is also increasingly effective to those surveyed.

``The Internet is playing an increasingly influential role in consumers purchasing behavior, but organizations should continue to utilize media based on its own unique attributes in order to have the greatest impact,'' she said.