It had to come to this sooner or later. The Annenberg School’s Digital Future Project released data to show that online activity overtook that other screen activity a.k.a. television watching. And this was results about 2003.

Television producers, content folk, and even those like ad agencies who built their world over this television economy have to be worried.

Not all advertising people think of this as a negative. Some look to the shift away from television (for the likes of P&G) as a positive sign. Read a long, very thoughtful analysis of the tragedy of the advertising commons by Matthew Syrett here at MarketingProfs. Mat says that:

The owners of the mass media channels themselves seem more likely candidates for effecting positive changes to the rules by which the advertisers compete, and therefore altering the forces behind the tragedy of the commons. By playing with the ways that media is sold and placed, the media channel owners could radically rework the means by which advertisers relate to consumers and each other, which in turn could alter the entire dynamic of advertising for the better.

Before we start gloating over the positive news about online behavior, here’s a reality check: The Annenberg report also found that people don’t consider the Internet as a reliable source of news. The confidence in the Net has been declining over the years!

The report is available at this link.