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of the workplace
Workers' No. 1 medium, ahead of radio and print
By Marty Beard
Of all the places advertisers have long wanted to reach people, the workplace is at or near the top of the list. Trouble was, the office was among the hardest environments to penetrate, thus among the most expensive.
That's quickly changing, thanks to the internet.
The web now all but owns the office environment, having jumped ahead of radio and cable as the favorite medium for news and information.
As TV is to the American home in the evening, the web is to the American workplace during the daytime.
"This is a highly attractive demographic that's online more than they’re doing anything else during the week," says Michael Zimbalist, acting executive director of the Online Publishers Association, which has released a study of workplace use of the internet, in conjunction with technology research company Millward Brown IntelliQuest.
These at-work users comprise a valuable pool of consumers. Jupiter Media Metrix data indicates that some 52.8 million people use the internet at work.
Forty-five percent of them are between the ages of 18 and 34. Seventy percent hold at least a bachelor’s degree, and the households of 45 percent earn more than $75,000 a year.
For a quarter of them, the internet is the only medium they use during the day.
Moreover, a large number--78 percent--say the internet has altered their overall behavior, both at work and during their off hours.
Thanks to the internet, people say they are spending less time talking on the phone and less time watching TV and running errands. They also say they spend less time reading newspapers and magazines.
For example, 58 percent of at-work users say they leave the office less often to run errands than they used to, and 26 percent say they now read both newspapers and magazines less often.
Among at-work internet users, 34 percent of total minutes spent with media are taken up by internet surfing, compared to the 30 percent spent watching television and the 26 percent spent listening to the radio.
Sixty-nine percent of at-work web users say the internet "makes them more productive and helps them balance their personal and professional lives," and 79 percent say the internet increases their workplace productivity.
Additionally, 91 percent of at-work internet users also log on from home, where they are more likely to make online transactions than they are at work.
Much as television dominates evening media consumption, the internet dominates daytime media consumption.
The study found that internet use peaks during the day, much as TV consumption still dominates the evening. But people don’t necessarily stop surfing during the evening.
One of the survey’s most striking findings is that at-work internet users actually prefer to receive ad messages via the internet, as opposed to any other medium.
Fifty-seven percent of at-work users say they prefer to learn about new products on the internet, versus 35 percent who prefer TV and 14 percent who prefer newspapers.
Along those lines, 54 percent of at-work internet users say they prefer learning about companies on the internet, compared to 20 percent who prefer TV and newspapers and 28 percent who prefer magazines.
People appear to prefer the internet as an advertising medium because they think it is rich in information.
Forty-three percent believe that the internet contains advertising that is rich in information, versus 39 percent who see magazine ads that way. Just 18 percent consider television advertising to be rich in information.
"There is a perception that the internet is rich in information," Zimbalist says.
"If marketers’ ads are appearing online, what that immediately suggests to the consumer is that there’s more information online, even if they might not be taking action immediately."
Still, survey respondents reported some flaws in internet advertising.
Sixty-two percent of at-work users think the internet has too much advertising, more than any other medium. Additionally, just 13 percent think that the medium has memorable advertising, compared to 69 percent who think television has memorable advertising.
Because so many office workers are online and have come to rely on the internet, the report argues that it is imperative for advertisers to have an online presence.
"Marketers who want to reach the affluent can't ignore the internet," Zimbalist says.
The Online Publishers Association and Millward Brown derived their findings from surveying a random sample of 1,022 internet users, 755 of whom had gone online from work in the past month and 272 of whom had gone online from someplace other than work.
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Sites Accessed in a Typical Week |
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| Type of site |
At-work users (%) |
Non-work users (%) |
| News |
57 |
55 |
| Retail shopping |
45 |
34 |
| Financial services |
44 |
34 |
| Computer/software |
43 |
33 |
| Special interests/hobbies |
42 |
44 |
| Games |
39 |
45 |
| Educational |
33 |
32 |
| Travel-related |
33 |
23 |
| Food/cooking |
31 |
36 |
| Sports |
27 |
23 |
| Health/fitness |
26 |
24 |
| Job listings |
24 |
20 |
| Home improvement |
16 |
18 |
| Music only |
16 |
10 |
| Radio stations |
16 |
10 |
| Popular culture |
14 |
10 |
| Automobile |
11 |
10 |
| Parenting/babies |
11 |
11 |
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Source: Online Publishers Association |
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January 14, 2002 © 2002 Media Life
-Marty Beard is a staff writer for Media Life.
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