Television continues to dominate the media usage habits of Americans, topping the Internet, magazines, newspapers, and radio on a number of important measures, according to new results of a Nielsen Media Research survey commissioned by TVB.

The results mirror the findings of both Hearst-Argyle's Magid study, released earlier this year, and Fox's Marketing Evolution study, which is now being circulated among agencies.

TVB's survey—last conducted in 2006—polled 1,246 adults over a three-week period in January 2008.

The survey can be parsed by key age demos as well as by household income, education, and occupation. Honing in on the adults 25-54 demographic, the survey reveals:

• A remarkably high percentage of the demo's total daily media hours (53%) are spent with television (more than all the other media combined).
  
  
• Adults 25-54 continue to spend significantly more time with television than with other media (222.7 minutes in the previous 24 hours versus 106.5 minutes for radio, 99.7 minutes for the Internet, 22.1 minutes for newspaper, and 15.1 minutes for magazines).
  
  
• Television reaches more adults 25-54 each day than any other medium. Of those polled, 90.0% reported watching television in the previous 24 hours as opposed to 80.0% for radio, 72.1% for the Internet, 58.9% for newspapers, and 48.3% for magazines.
  
  
• Adults 25-54 say television advertising is the most influential (81.4% for television, 6.5% for the Internet, 5.8% for newspaper, 3.9% for radio, and 2.3% for magazines).
  
  
• When asked to cite which medium's advertising was the most persuasive, 69.9% named television rather than 9.5% for newspapers, 7.5% for radio, 8.1% for magazines, and 5.1% for the Internet.
  
  
• Asked where they are most likely to learn about products or brands they might like to try or buy, 55.0% said television, 18.7% said the Internet, 14.6% said magazines, 7.1% said newspapers, and 4.5% said radio.

Turning to news coverage, broadcast television continued to outscore all other mediums on the following measures, among others:

• Significantly more adults named broadcast television as their primary news source (39.6% name broadcast TV, 19.0% name cable new networks, 13.1 name the Internet, 11.3% name newspapers, 11.1% name radio, and 5.7% name public television).
  
  
• Broadcast television is adults' first source for local weather, traffic or sports, with 52.7% of adults citing broadcast TV, over 22.5% for the Internet, 9.9% for cable news networks, 6.4% for radio, 3.8% for newspapers, and 4.8% for public TV.
  
  
• When asked to cite which medium was the most involved in their community, 57.8% say broadcast television, as opposed to 24.0% for newspapers, 6.6% for radio, 5.4% for cable news networks, 5.1% for public television, and 1.1% for the Internet.

For the first time, the 2008 Media Comparisons Study asked about usage of local broadcast TV station Web sites:

• 38.1% of adults 25-54 said they had visited a local broadcast TV station Web site in the past 30 days.
  
  
• 37.7% of station Web site visitors said they had viewed video content while on the site.

TVB President Chris Rohrs said, “Altogether, the study reinforces the public's high level of satisfaction with the television medium and its enduring preeminence among all media choices.”

To view the complete study, click here.