Boomer professionals: More online, less TV

June 25, 7:36 AMBaby Boomer ExaminerPaul Briand

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Traditional TV viewing among Baby Boomer professionals
is declining, shifting to online.

In what could be the start of a significant shift in how Baby Boomers spend their leisure time, a new report says Boomer professionals now spend more of their leisure time online than they do watching television.

"The results point to a powerful shift occurring among Boomers away from traditional TV towards new types of online services and entertainment.  Importantly, this transformation is affecting lifelong habits," said a report from Change Wave Research.

Basing its report on a survey of 1,660 Baby Boomer professionals between 45 and 63, Change Wave says Boomers now spend more free time online (12.9 hrs per week on average) than they do watching traditional TV (11.8 hrs per week on average).

And what TV they are watching isn't all that compelling -- 62 percent say they're watching less because they’re not as interested in what's on TV these days.

The Change Wave evidence suggests that these Baby Boomer professionals are spending their online time with social networks, LinkedIn chief among them. More than half of them say they maintain one or more social network profiles. And here are the favorites, according to Change Wave:

• LinkedIn = 57 percent
• Facebook = 55 percent
• Classmates = 22 percent
• Twitter = 16 percent
• MySpace = 12 percent

And here's another blow to traditional television. Asked what subscription service they'd be most willing to give up, 44 percent said their TV service (cable, satellite). And that ranked ahead of home telephone, DVD rental, Internet, newspapers, magazines and cell phones.

The data suggests that they'd give up TV in a heartbeat and replace it with a Video-over-the-Internet subscription if it provided the same programming currently available from their TV service.

The current top TV web sites are:

• YouTube = 79 percent
• TV network websites = 39 percent
• Hulu = 16 percent
• iTunes = 11 percent

"The shift among Boomers towards Video-over-the-Internet is a long-term trend that bodes poorly for traditional TV service providers," said Change Wave.