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Television viewers are migrating to the Web. Internet surfing is biggest reason for having a comp at home, says new study
Cyberspace is taking away eyeballs from television in the metropolitan cities as Indian homes are now hooked on to the Net.
Now, 37 per cent of the computing generation - 14.6 million people - log on for information and entertainment, giving the tube a slip. "Internet surfing is becoming the biggest reason for having a computer at home. Out of every three-computer users, two have Net connection," said Sanjay Tiwari, director of Juxtconsult, an online research solutions consultancy.
Necessity
Tiwari said, "Internet users in the country are 49 million - 40 million urban, 9 million rural - a growth of 33 per cent over the last year. Out of this 35 million people regularly access Net. Regular urban Internet users have grown by 19 per cent over the last year and around 25 million people use Net daily."
Considering computer as a necessity, 60 per cent of home users are addicted to it. Around 87 per cent people use it everyday and half of them are around 25 years of age. "Most users prefer emailing and job searches," Tiwari said.
Computer is now a family pot with an average of 2.3 users per box at home, compared to just 1.8 at office. Only 1 in 7 is an exclusive user of a home PC, rest of them share with other family members, said the survey conducted by JuxtConsult.
"Around 12.3 million people use personal computers and the rest 2.3 million use laptops. Most of the personal computer users want to switch over to the laptop due to its compatibility," the report added.
Online survey
The company had conducted an online survey in July-August 2008. The survey sampled over 12,500 households in 40 cities and over 4,000 households in 160 villages across the country.
"The study not only provides authentic and recent estimates on computer user-ship in urban India but also an in-depth understanding of computer usage behaviour and preferences of urban Indians," Tiwari said.
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