MRI poll shows web use up in 2008

23.3% of adults watch online video

By MIKE FLAHERTY

The fall 2008 survey by Mediamark Research & Intelligence (MRI) reports that downloading television programs, watching online videos and making online phone calls posted the biggest-ever year-to-year uptick among adult Internet users.

Of the 26,000 adults polled, 3.2% said they'd downloaded a TV episode in the past 30 days, marking a 141% increase from 2007, while online video viewing jumped 35.4%, to 23.3%, and online phone use increased 32%, to 4.0%.

"We should not be surprised that relatively new activities such as downloading TV programs from the Internet have a lower overall usage," said Anne Marie Kelly, senior VP of Marketing & Strategic Planning. "What is interesting is that virtually all activities -- including mainstream ones such as using email -- have shown growth in the last year."

In fact, 15 of the 28 categories measured (others include looking for recipes, listening to online radio, and blogging) saw double-digit growth.

The most popular reported cyberactivities overall were emailing (74.2%), reading/watching news (46%) and paying bills (39.6%).