The internet isn't killing television, according to new research by American audience specialists the Nielsen Company.
Its brand new TV/Internet Convergence Panel, which electronically measures both television and Internet usage in the same US homes, has found that TV viewing and online video streaming are complementary activities.
Nielsen reckons that the top 20 per cent of Internet users spend more than 250 minutes per day watching television, compared to 220 minutes of TV viewing by people who don't use the Internet at all.
Surf while you surf
Some of you are so connected that you do both at the same time - more than 80 per cent of web surfers had simultaneous sessions when they were watching TV at the same time.
Biggest users of streaming video were female teenagers, over 80 per cent of whom watch online clips each month.
Overall, nearly 31 percent of in-home online activity takes place while the user is watching telly, while just 4 percent of television viewing occurs when the consumer is also surfing the web.
However, there is a whole group of people who are out doing something more interesting instead: the lowest consumers of television also have the lowest usage levels for the internet.
