Online consumers love web as much as TV

US consumers like their entertainment in a big, square box - but just can't decide if they love the TV or the PC more.

According to JupiterResearch, online consumers in the US now spend the same amount of time on the internet as they spend watching TV – a total of 14 hours per week on each.

With web users more square-eyed than ever, books are already suffering – 37 per cent of surfers say they spend less time reading because of their internet love – but old-school print newspapers and magazines could be next to feel the effect of increasing time online.

JupiterResearch analyst Barry Parr said that unless newspapers start investing heavily in their online presence, they could "lose a whole generation of users".

Such print-shunning consumers are also early adopters - likely to use up-and-coming technologies such as RSS and streaming radio - the research discovered.