Spending so much time on the internet writing, reading and conducting business transactions, the results of a study by The Newspaper Associaton of America are somewhat surprising.

The survey, How America Shops and Spends indicates that consumers rely more on newspaper advertising when making decisions about purchases. Consumers felt that newspaper advertising made it easier to compare prices at different stores, were most effective at bringing sales to their attention, were more convenient to use and more up to date than other forms of advertising. Possibly the fact that consumers expect to receive sales circulars and sales updates in their newspapers gives papers the edge with shoppers, as it becomes ritual to check for sales and bargains.

Radio and magazines as advertising media scored lowest in all categories with TV making only a slightly better showing.

The Internet showed signs of increasing popularity with consumers and possibly catching up to newspapers as an advertising medium in ease of comparing prices, convenience of use and in being up to date, scoring higher than all other media except newspapers. The Internet ranked lower when it came to being able to brings sales to the attention of shoppers.