Found this report and thought i should share it with DH.

Ipsos Reid - Canada's market intelligence leader - reports that Canadians are now spending more time surfing the internet than they are watching television. What's really scary is that despite being overtaken by Internet usage, Television watching continues to grow.

I guess people are exercising less than ever!

http://www.ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=4720

The firm's findings were based on an internet only survey of 839 adult Canadians who were part of an Ipsos online panel.

Sorry but this just doesn't seem like a representative sample to me. I would agree that online usage is going up among all Canadians but to say that the average Cdn spends more time on the web than watching TV just does not seem plausible to me.

I spend more time on the 'net than in front of the boob tube.

However, I don't watch tv shows on-line. I use it for catching up on message boards and reading the odd newspaper here and there. I reserve watching tv shows to the tv.

I suspect many people on the Digital Forum spend more time on the internet than watching television but then I suspect we are far from the average Canadian in this respect.

If you include time at work, I can see how the number of hours in front of a PC can exceed amount of time watching TV.

I would say time at work plus time surfing and watching TV at the same time could exceed TV time. My wife, who is not a techie (ie - likely representative of many women in her age bracket), watches TV with her laptop in her lap constantly. Looking at Facebook, youtube, pics, emails etc. For myself, my internet usage easily outweighs TV time even though I rarely surf and watch TV at the same time (not a great multitasker when it comes to reading and watching TV). But, as Hugh indicated, I'm not likely representative of an "average" Canadian.

Yup I spend more time on the net, plus do I really watch tv? I do spend time using the tv/pc pulling in feeds on my motorized dishes but like Hugh mentioned I am definitely not the average Canadian in this respect along with many others :)

Facebook alone has dramatically increased household online time. If I recall correctly I read that last week for the 1st time ever Facebook had more visitors than Google. Let than sink in....Facebook had more hits than the worlds largest search engine. Sorry if this sounds sexist but Facebook has pulled women away from the TV and to the PC. My wife can be exhibit A as I am in the process of buying her a Netbook so we aren't fighting over the other laptop.

The firm's findings were based on an internet only survey of 839 adult Canadians who were part of an Ipsos online panel.

Sorry but this just doesn't seem like a representative sample to me. I would agree that online usage is going up among all Canadians but to say that the average Cdn spends more time on the web than watching TV just does not seem plausible to me.
I'm with Hugh on this one.
A survey means nothing unless it was random selection and had a high response rate.

Right on their site
The results are based on a sample where quota sampling and weighting are employed to balance demographics and ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to Census data
While this accounts for demographics, it doesn't counter the fact that it was people on a website answering a poll - you may have a representative sample in terms of gender, race, income, what have you, but in the end they are still people who took the time to answer the poll. They don't list a response rate - could have been 99% declined the survey and this 1% are those that are avid internet users!

I agree. There are an increasing amount of professionals who rely on a laptop or pc to get work done. As a writer and teacher, a lot of my time is spent doing work on a computer. It goes everywhere with me, which is something that a television cannot do, unfortunately!

However, during my non-working hours, I still prefer to watch television shows via streaming sites online. Not everyone has a tivo or a PVR, so I think internet usage just provides quick accessibility and convenience for people.

I can see this as a valid result, if not 100% scientifically accurate. My partner didn't know how to use a computer 5 years ago. Now she spends 1-2 hours a day reading email and doing other things on the internet. About half of that time was previously spent watching TV. Time spent on the internet and watching TV are about the same on average.

The firm's findings were based on an internet only survey of 839 adult Canadians who were part of an Ipsos online panel.

Sorry but this just doesn't seem like a representative sample to me. I would agree that online usage is going up among all Canadians but to say that the average Cdn spends more time on the web than watching TV just does not seem plausible to me.
The fact that the sample comes from a panel invalidates the results. Panels are far from random.