More Americans Creating Content Online

Close to 40 percent (38%) of Americans are watching TV shows online, 36 percent use their cell phones for entertainment and 45 percent are creating Web sites, music, videos and blogs, according to a survey from Deloitte & Touche.

In Deloitte’s first edition of the survey the "State of the Media Democracy" eight months ago, 24 percent of people reported using their cell phones for entertainment purposes, since then usage has risen 50 percent.

Sixty-two percent of "millennials" (consumers 13-to-24-years-old) use their cell phones for entertainment, up from 46 percent in the last survey. For Generation X consumers (25-to-41-year-olds), the number increased to 47 percent from 29 percent in the previous survey.

Fifty-four percent of those surveyed said they are creating their own entertainment content by editing photos, videos or music, 45 percent are making the content for others to see, and 32 percent think of themselves as "broadcasters’ of their own media.

"I think for advertisers one of the conclusions is you don’t make decisions to advertise either on television or the Internet when you want to hit all the demographics, but rather you need to have a multiplatform strategy," said Ken August, vice chairman and national sector leader for Deloitte & Touche’s media and entertainment practice, which commissioned the study. "It shouldn’t be an either or proposition."

The survey also found that 54 percent of Americans use social networking sites, chat rooms or message boards to socialize, and 45 percent have a profile on a social networking site.

Online ads are second only to TV ads when it comes to consumers saying what has the most impact on their buying habits (65% versus 85% respectively).

The online survey of 2,081 Americans were provided to The Hollywood Reporter before their official release next month.