A new survey says the desirable demographic continues to move off the couch and online.

No longer married to TV, the elusive young male demographics’ wandering eyes are locked squarely on their PCs. A new survey shows traditional media use among 18- to 34-year-old men is down across newspapers, magazines and television—especially among the younger end of this category.

The latest Simultaneous Media Usage Survey by BIGresearch LLC, which surveyed more than 13,000 young men, confirms Nielsen Media Research’s conclusions that this highly coveted demographic continues to move away from TV. (In November, Nielsen found fall prime-time television ratings for 18- to 34-year-old men were down 7.7 percent compared to the previous year.) BIGresearch has determined the missing demographic is migrating toward instant messaging and the Internet. And the change is palatable, even in the past few months.

This twice-annual survey revealed that, since August 2002, 18- to 24-year-old male television viewership decreased 8.8 percent, and 25- to 34-year-old male viewership decreased 12.2 percent. In the same turn, Internet use, emailing, IM and gaming have increased, says Joe Pilotta, vice president of research at BIGresearch. The number of men in this age group who surf the Internet increased to 72 percent, up from 68.3 percent last year. Video game use increased 5 percent to 57.5 percent in the same period.

	Number of 18- to 34-Year-Old Men Who Use New Media in Their Leisure Time Activity August 2002 March 2003 October 2003 Play Video Games 52.5% 55.6% 57.5% Surf the Internet 68.3% 67.8% 72.0% E-mail/Instant Messaging N/A 51.3% 55.5% *The sum of the % totals may be greater than 100% because the respondents can select more than one answer. Source: BIGresearch LLC, 2003

As for total minutes per day, men in this age group reported spending 187.4 minutes using the Internet or email, the most time spent with any medium. However, don’t count TV out. Respondents watched television 160.8 minutes per day on average—yet it is still second best to online.

Also, although there is a definite “prime time” that applies to television, young males use Internet and email morning, noon and night—presumably because the Internet lends itself to being used alongside other media, and because it is accessible during work hours.

	Weekday Use of Internet Time Period Percent of Respondents 6am–10am 28.2% 10am–Noon 32.6% Noon–4:30pm 36.8% 4:30pm–7:30pm 39.2% 7:30pm–11pm 40.5% 11pm–1am 24.4% 1am–6am 13.5% Source: BIGresearch LLC, 2003

*The sum of the % totals may be greater than 100% because the respondents can select more than one answer.

	Weekday Use of Email Time Period Percent of Respondents 6am–10am 27.4% 10am–Noon 32.8% Noon–4:30pm 35.8% 4:30pm–7:30pm 38.1% 7:30pm–11pm 39.1% 11pm–1am 21.7% 1am–6am 10.1% Source: BIGresearch LLC, 2003

*The sum of the % totals may be greater than 100% because the respondents can select more than one answer.

	Weekday Use of Television Time Period Percent of Respondents 6am–10am 14.3% 10am–Noon 11.1% Noon–4:30pm 14.1% 4:30pm–7:30pm 38.0% 7:30pm–11pm 54.6% 11pm–1am 27.4% 1am–6am 9.1% Source: BIGresearch LLC, 2003

*The sum of the % totals may be greater than 100% because the respondents can select more than one answer.

Even simultaneous use of television and the Internet is down. In fact, simultaneous use of the Internet with radio has increased among 25- to 34-year-old men.

Perhaps media use is down overall for this demo because they are busy taking out the garbage. Pilotta says men who live with their parents are significantly less involved with media than those who live on their own. He attributes this to having to abide by Mom’s and Dad’s standards. “Most who live with their parents have to compromise on house rules regarding TV shows and loud music (i.e., generational tastes rule),” he says.

However, as a testament to what types of channels these guys are watching, a third of this demographic regularly watch Discovery Channel and Comedy Central, which seem to be most popular among cable TV offerings. Exploration and laughs beat out ESPN, which 29 percent of the respondents regularly watch.

	Top Five Regularly Watched Cable Networks By 18- to 34-Year-Old Men Channel Percent of Respondents Discovery Channel 33.6 Comedy Central 33.5 ESPN 29.4 TNT 29.0 Sci-Fi Channel 28.5 Source: BIGresearch LLC, 2003

To Pilotta, the shift away from television indicates an evolving preference for interactive media. “The Internet requires more involvement plus more of an action orientation, especially with gaming on computers,” he explains. “Also, TV programming has little to say to this age group.”