A TGI survey of adults during July 2004-June 2005 published today shows a 67% rise in use of the Internet as the main source of information. The survey indicates that use of the Internet as the first source of information rose to 36.3%, compared with 29.2% in a survey of July 2003-June 2004.
In contrast to Internet use, the proportion of people reading daily newspapers fell to 63.1% in the current survey, compared with 59.1% in the preceding survey. Use of radio as new source also declined. The proportion of those reporting that they always listened to news on the radio dropped from 47.7% in July 2003-June 2004 to 42.6% in July 2004-June 2005.
The TGI survey also showed that exposure to daily newspapers is waning. Readership of the three daily Hebrew-language secular newspapers, other than "Globes", is falling. “Ma’ariv” suffered the biggest decline; its daily exposure dropped from 25.4% in July 2003-June 2004 to 22.5% in July 2004-June 2005, a 10% loss. “Yediot Ahronot” lost 5%, from 44% in July 2003-June 2004 to 41.9% in July 2004-June 2005.
The decrease at “Ha’aretz” was much smaller, from 7.2% in July 2003-June 2004 to 7% in July 2004-June 2005. "Globes" was the only daily newspaper to increase its exposure, from 3.2% in July 2003-June 2004 to 3.4% in July 2004-June 2005.
The weekend exposure rates of all the secular newspapers are falling. The weekend exposure rates of “Ma’ariv” and “Ha’aretz” fell 9%, compared with the previous survey. The drop in “Yediot Ahronot”’s weekend exposure rate was much smaller from 54.8% to 53.9%.
The weekend exposure rates of some religious and haredi (ultra-Orthodox) newspapers rose. For example, the “BaMishpaha” weekly’s exposure rose from 2.7% in the preceding survey to 3% in the current survey, and the “BaSheva” weekly’s exposure rose from 4.3% to 5.7%.
Radio listening time fell from 126 minutes per weekday in the preceding survey to 121.5 minutes in the current survey. Weekly home Internet surfing time rose from 159 minutes in the preceding survey to 172 minutes in the current survey, and to 187 minutes in January-June 2005.
Weekly radio listening rates (the proportion of people tuning in a station at least once a day) of Voice of Israel radio stations fell from 49.1% in July 2003-June 2004 to 46.4% in July 2004-June 2005. On the other hand, regional radio listening rates rose from 35.8% in the preceding survey to 36.5% in the current survey. The weekly listening rate of IDF Radio (Galei Zahal) did not change.
The rise in Internet use appears even more pronounced when six-month periods are compared. The proportion of people agreeing with the statement, “The first place I look for information is the Internet,” rose from 23.1% in January-June 2003 and 30.7% in January-June 2004 to 38.5% in January-June 2005 a 67% increase in two years.
The TGI marketing database is compiled by the Single Source research company, a part of the TNS Teleseker group. The TGI database is based on a sample of 10,000 people in the Jewish sector aged 18+, reflecting a population of 3.57 million.
The TGI survey began in 1998, and its results are published twice a year. The current figures are the fifteenth survey in the series.
The TGI database is built using the Single Source method, based on four databases assembled from the same samples. These databases include consumer behavior and services in over 200 product and service categories, nearly 2,000 different brand names, and 250 lifestyle, media, and demographic sources.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on July 25, 2005