PORT WASHINGTON, NEW YORK, JULY 14, 1999 - A new study reveals that as Baby Boomers enter a new stage of life, namely one without children, one of the significant changes in how they spend their days is that they spend more time reading. According to a new study by The NPD Group, Time Lines: How Americans Spent Their Time During the 90's, there are four key changes in the way older Americans spend time once their children leave the nest: 1) less time working, 2) less time on child care, 3) more time watching TV and 4) more time reading. No other daily activities change more than these four.
| Key Changes in the Way We Spend Time | |
| 45 - 65 year olds vs. 24 - 40 Year Olds | |
| Activity | Change in No. of Minutes Per Day |
| Work for Pay | -39 minutes |
| Child Care | -36 minutes |
| Watching Television | +32 minutes |
| Reading | +19 minutes |
"It is inevitable that we will adopt new behavior as we age," states NPD Vice President Harry Balzer, who conducted the study. "After all, as the time constraints of child care and work ease, it is only natural to look for new ways to fill that time. What is surprising is that reading is second only to television as the most common way we spend newly-found free time. Reading, an activity that has been declining for some time, may be the second biggest benefactor – after television – of the increase in the number of older Americans and their need to occupy their time.”
In the study, NPD found that while time spent reading is decreasing among individuals in every age group, there is a significant increase in time spent reading as we age. While younger twenty-somethings spent an average of only 24 minutes per day reading, Americans over age 50 clocked nearly twice as much time per day on that activity.
| Average Daily Minutes Spent Reading By Age | |
| Age | 1992-1998 |
| Under 25 | 24 |
| 25 - 29 | 24 |
| 30 - 34 | 28 |
| 35 - 39 | 31 |
| 40 - 44 | 35 |
| 45 - 49 | 41 |
| 50 - 54 | 44 |
| 55 - 64 | 53 |
This trend, coupled with shifting demographics as Boomers enter middle age, could mean a windfall for publishers. In the past, Boomers have impacted American culture as they've entered other key life stages, and they are most likely to do so again as they grow older and find time to read.
"This will be a huge opportunity for marketers," Balzer believes. "And what will be most interesting will be how creative the industry can be in developing the material that people want to read in the format that they want to read it. Given recent changes in the way Americans are getting information – not just books, magazines and newspapers anymore, but also the Internet – it remains to be seen how each of these media will fare, and even more exciting, what new media may be developed that we can't even imagine now!"
About the Study
About The NPD Group
The NPD Group is an international marketing information company headquartered in Port Washington, NY. Founded in 1953, the firm specializes in providing marketing information and associated computer software-based information management systems. NPD is the tenth largest market research firm in the U.S. based upon 1998 revenues, according to the American Marketing Association's Honomichl 50. NPD has offices and affiliations in 36 countries, covering North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
For more information on this press release, call Leslie Singer at The NPD Group, Inc. at (516) 625-2302 or e-mail her at leslie_singer@npd.com.