Media and Technology Stats and Studies – June 19, 2013

The Center for American Progress analyzed National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data, concluding that disadvantaged middle school math students are more likely to use computers in class for “drill and practice” functions rather than developing more sophisticated skills.  The report noted that black and Latino students are, on average, “two years behind white students of the same age.”

A third of American adults own tablet computers, according to new research from Pew.  While tablet ownership is balanced among whites (33%), blacks (32%) and Hispanics (34%), there are large differences in tablet ownership when household income is taken into account.  Just 20% of respondents with household incomes of less than $20,000 own a tablet, compared to 38% in households earning between $50,000 and $74,999.  Fifty-six percent of respondents in households earning $75,000 or more owned a tablet.

An Actix report found network traffic from iPads has increased four-fold over the past 6 months.  The report also found iPads consume 3 times the data consumed by smartphones.

Nielsen released its quarterly Cross-Platform Report showing social networking dominates smartphone and tablet usage. Smartphone users spent an average of 9 hours and 6 minutes using social media apps.  Tablet users spent 3 hours and 41 minutes using social media apps. African Americans (69%), Hispanics (69%) and Asians (75%) dominate among owners of mobile devices in smartphone penetration, compared to 57% of Whites.

The Council for Research Excellence presented the results of a soon-to-be released study of how television viewers use social media while watching TV.  Among the report’s findings, viewers are more likely to use social media during reality shows than they are to do so during scripted programming.  Viewers are more likely to discuss scripted programming after the show has ended. Hispanics are 50% more likely to use social media while watching TV, compared to the general population.

The Center for the Digital Future at USC Annenberg released the results of its 11th annual survey of how consumers use the Internet, and their attitudes about going online.  Among the report’s many findings, nearly two thirds of American parents monitor their children’s Facebook use.  48% of respondents’ total screen time was spent watching television.  On average, users spent 33% of their screen time on computers.  The percentage of people using the Internet to make phone calls jumped from 4% in 2007 to 13% in 2012–the largest increase among all general Internet activities. Forty-one percent of respondents who do not go online reported “no computer/no Internet connection” as the primary reason why. When asked whether the government should regulate the Internet more than it currently does, 42% responded that they “strongly disagree”. Further, since 2012, the number of respondents who reported they are “worried about companies checking what I do online” increased by 9 percentage points from 48% in 2010, to 57% in 2012.

An Oriella Digital Journalism study of 553 journalists globally found most journalists worldwide incorporate social media into their jobs.  Fifty-nine percent of journalists worldwide reported using Twitter, although most were concentrated in English-speaking countries.  Thirty-nine percent of the journalists break news online first, rather than waiting until the release of the print version of the publication.

At the Cable Show last week, Participant Media’s new cable network Pivot, which will be rolled out to 40 million households on August 1, released a report showing Millenials aged 18-34 are increasingly foregoing cable service in favor of viewing content online. Ninety-two percent of TV viewers in this demographic want Video-on-Demand (VOD) streamed “everywhere and anywhere,” according to the study.

Media and Technology Stats and Studies – June 10, 2013

Northwestern University released a study of how parents of children ages 0-8 perceive and use media in childrearing. Among the report’s findings, just 19% of low-income households earning less than $25,000 annually have a tablet, compared to 65% of households earning $100,000 or more per year. However, more than half of low-income parents (54%) were likely to turn on the TV for educational purposes, compared to 31% of higher income parents. Just 31% of all parents were concerned about their children’s media use, behind health and safety (45%), fitness and nutrition (41%), social and emotional skills (39%), behavior (38%), school performance (33%), and literacy skills (32%).

Pew released a study showing 56% of American adults now own smartphones. Sixty-four percent of African Americans and 60% of Hispanics now own a smartphone, compared to 53% of whites. A very wide gap in smartphone ownership between upper income and low-income households persists, with 78% percent of persons living in households with incomes of $75,000 or more owning smartphones, compared to 43% of persons living in households earning less than $30,000 per year. A separate Experian study showed Americans spend an average of nearly an hour per day using their smartphones.

Nielsen released its U.S. Entertainment Consumer Report, analyzing all Internet users ages 18 and over. According to the report, African-Americans are 2% more likely to buy physical CDs. Asian and Hispanic music buyers are respectively 8% and 5% more likely to purchase digital music. Among online music streamers, 75% are white, 13.7% are Hispanic, 12.1% are African American, and 4.2% are Asian; these demographics are similar to those of the United States population. African Americans are 14% less likely to stream movies and TV shows online, while Asians and Hispanics are 73% and 28% more likely to do so. All consumers were overall more likely to buy print books, but Hispanics were particularly less likely (22%) to purchase e-books. African Americans and whites are respectively 5% less and 2% more likely to buy either print or ebooks.

Driven by two new series written by Tyler Perry, OWN is close to surpassing BET among African American women ages 25-54, according to Nielsen. OWN’s ratings grew to 1.82 million viewers during Tuesday night’s The Haves and the Have Nots, up from 1.77 million viewers during the show’s debut the week before. On Wednesday, OWN’s Love Thy Neighbor attracted 1.8 million viewers, compared to 1.5 million viewers during its debut the previous week. OWN ranked number 2 among African American women ages 25-54, behind only TNT, which was broadcasting the NBA playoffs and not regular programming. BET ranked third in the relevant timeslots.

General Mills disabled comments on a 30-second YouTube ad for Cheerios that features an interracial family, after the ad’s comment section became inundated with hate speech by angry viewers. As of the writing of this newsletter, the video has received more than 3 million views, with 42,576 ‘thumbs up’ and 2,052 ‘thumbs down.’  However, a Rasmussen poll of 1,000 adults found just 31% of Americans favor a ban on hate speech.

PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts increased adoption of tablets and smartphones in Brazil, China and India will lead to a 43% increase in worldwide entertainment spending, from $1.6 trillion in 2012 to $2.2 trillion in 2017. PwC also predicts the market for ebooks will be larger than that of print books by 2017. The report also predicts combined wired and wireless Internet spending to grow by 68%, from $91 billion in 2012 to $153.3 billion in 2017. Most of the growth is expected to come from wireless.

The National Security Agency and FBI made public their years-long effort to collect phone records and tap into the servers of nine Internet companies including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple, to access meta data to assist the U.S. in its fight against terrorism. The Internet program, known as PRISM, is the first known program of its kind to directly access the servers of Internet companies without a warrant.

In its quarterly threat report, McAfee warned that hackers are increasingly targeting Android phones. Malware attacks on Android phones increased by 40% in the 1st quarter of 2013, according to the company.

Google released its economic impact data showing its “search and advertising tools helped provide $94 billion of economic activity for 1.9 million businesses, website publishers and nonprofits across the U.S.“

The Annals of Internet Medicine reported that fewer than 10% of doctors use electronic health records in compliance with U.S. standards.

DePaul University released a study showing 105 million hours of worker productivity are lost due to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) ban on the use of electronic devices during takeoffs and landings.

Media and Technology Stats and Studies – June 3, 2013

The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council and BIA/Kelsey have released their report on how they believe relaxing the newspaper-broadcast cross ownership rules would affect minority and female broadcast owners. According to a statement released by BIA/Kelsey, ”The results of this study, while not dispositive, do provide evidence that the impact of cross-media ownership on minority and women broadcast ownership is probably negligible.” The report’s findings are based on results from 14 respondents, a sample size critics suggest is too small.

Tyler Perry’s The Haves and the Have Nots delivered Harpo and Discovery Communications’ OWN network its largest audience ever with 1.77 million viewers watching the drama’s Tuesday premiere. On Wednesday, OWN also debuted Perry’s new comedy Love Thy Neighbor, which yielded 1.65 million viewers between 9 and 9:30PM and 1.8 million viewers between 9:30 and 10PM.

Google, with $37.9 billion in revenues, now ranks number one among ZenithOptimedia’s Top 30 Global Media Owners. News Corporation, Walt Disney, Comcast, and CBS also ranked.

The Intelligence Group’s Cassandra Report found that kids aged 7-13 use devices to mimic adult behavior. Sixty-seven percent of survey respondents reported that they preferred receiving a tablet as a gift rather than a toy. More than half – 56% – wanted an iPad compared to 43% who wanted a Nintendo Wii U. Survey respondents were also split in their preference for TV (51%) versus the Internet (49%). Further, 72% watch TV programming at the scheduled time, rather than relying on DVRs, subscription services, and on-demand outlets.

A JAMA Pediatrics study found that between 1996 and 2009, cigarette product placements in movies declined exponentially (by 7% each year) after “externally enforced constraints were implemented”, while product placements for alcoholic beverages, which are subject only to industry self-regulation, remained statistically unchanged.

A Clear Channel survey of 1,008 Americans showed Americans are more willing to give up TVs, smartphones, and tablets than they are to give up their PCs.

A confidential report prepared by the Defense Science Board to senior Pentagon officials shows U.S. weapons designs have been compromised because of weaknesses in the nation’s cyber defenses. China is seen by experts to have orchestrated the intrusions as part of a larger cyber-espionage campaign to bolster its own military capabilities.

Bell Labs researchers have discovered a way to pair signals and minimize the signal-to-noise ratio within fiber cables, thereby increasing data transmission speeds to 400 Gbps over 7,900 miles.

Market research firm IDC projects global shipments of tablets will surpass that of PCs by 2015. By 2015, tablet shipments will reach an estimated 332.4 million, according to the report. IDC also projects PCs shipments will decline by 7.8 percent this year, which would be the largest decrease on record.

Roku, the streaming video device manufacturer, has raised $60 Million from Hearst, News Corporation and other investors.

Media and Technology Stats and Studies – May 28, 2013

The Pew Research Center released a report on teens’ use of social media. Among the report’s findings, African American teens continue to lead other racial and ethnic groups in their use of Twitter. Thirty-nine percent of African American teens use Twitter, compared to 23% of white teens. The report also found declining interest in Facebook among all teens, accompanied by an increasing interest in Twitter. However, teens continue to use Facebook out of a perceived necessity for keeping up with their peers.

In a study of nearly 35,000 16-year-olds, the UK-based National Literacy Trust found the majority of young people (52%) prefer reading on screens rather than in print (32%). The study also found young people who read exclusively on computers have lower literacy levels than those who read using both computers and printed materials. However, the report did not find a literacy gap between those who exclusively used tablets and those who read on both tablets and printed materials. Girls were also significantly more likely than boys to read using any medium, print or otherwise.

The FCC released a report on internet access connections over 200kbps. The report found the number of connections increased by 18% since 2012, to 243 million, with mobile subscriptions up 28% to 153 million. Speeds have also improved, with the number of ”fixed connections with download speeds at or above 3 Mbps and upload speeds at or above 768 kbps having increased from 56% to 64% of total fixed connections. Among mobile wireless subscriptions, the share increased from 14% to 28%.”

A Starcom report on 4,800 viewers concluded viewers are more likely to recall advertisements streamed online, than they are to recall advertisements appearing on traditional TV.

Viacom study: Social media is becoming today’s TV guide for viewers.

A valuation conducted by Wells Fargo puts Sinclair Broadcasting’s spectrum at the top of the nation’s most valuable. Wells Fargo found Sinclair’s spectrum to be worth $2.9 billion, or $35.74 per share.

The Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau found 92% of total day and primetime ratings among the 18-to-49 demographic went to cable networks, compared to 75% for broadcast TV.

Media and Technology Stats and Studies – May 20, 2013

A soon-to-be published University of Wisconsin-Madison meta-analysis of data on more than 10,000 children in 15 countries is expected to show viewing international co-productions of Sesame Street has a positive impact on learning in children around the world. According to the University of Wisconsin, the study will show an average 11.6 percentile difference between viewers and non-viewers on “cognitive outcomes (including literacy and numeracy), learning about the world (including health and safety knowledge), and social reasoning and attitudes.” An NTI/PBS study recently showed PBS Kids’ TV and online media outlets attract a higher proportion of African American, Hispanic and low-income households, compared to their proportion of the overall population. A 2010 study of 600 pre-school children showed children who viewed PBS’ Sesame Street increased their ability to articulate scientific concepts by 100%.

Media Matters for America released Diversity of Evening Cable News in 13 Charts. The report looked at the race, ethnicity and gender of 1,677 guests and found that women did not make up more than 33% of guests on any of the cable news channels. Media Matters also found that Fox News had the highest proportion of white guests (83%), with MSNBC having the lowest (73%), and that African Americans were the “largest non-white group on all of the networks,” as 19% of the non-white guests Media Matters reviewed were African American.

Netflix released its ranking of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) with the fastest speeds. Google Fiber ranked first with an average speed of 3.45 Mbps, with Cablevision, Cox, Suddenlink, Charter, Verizon-FIOS, MediaCom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House, rounding out the Top 10.

NTIA reported that 18% of rural areas continue to lack access to download speeds of at least 6 Mbps, compared to 100% of urban residents.

The Center for Democracy and Technology has released a report explaining the technical reasons why the report’s authors believe the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s effort to step up Internet surveillance poses serious national security risks. Currently, the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) enables law enforcement officials to wiretap phone lines. The authority for tapping communications conducted via instant messaging platforms and VOIP platforms such as Skype is not as clear since these services rely on the Internet, rather than phone lines, to function. Among other things, the report concludes that requiring these service providers to build in intercept capabilities at endpoints exposes the United States to “serious consequences for the economic well-being and national security of the United States.”

A record year in political spending on local TV stations has led to a spate of broadcast mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in the US TV broadcast industry. The revenues generated by local TV stations during the 2012 election cycle allowed them to make their balance sheets more attractive for investors. LIN Television, Nexstar Broadcasting, Sinclair Broadcast Group, and Tribune are among the largest groups leading this new wave of consolidation, the value of which could exceed $6 billion through 2014, according to Moody’s.

Clear Channel reports its iHeartRadio service has reached 30 million registered users. This is compared to 200 million registered users for Pandora, the Internet radio market leader. Clear Channel also reported 60 million unique users per month, compared to 67 million active Pandora users. Clear Channel attributes this difference to the fact that Clear Channel users can always turn to local FM radio stations for local content.

Media and Technology Stats and Studies – May 13, 2013

A Grunwald Associates report commissioned by AT&T concluded that parents’ level of education correlated with their level of enthusiasm about the benefits of mobile technology in their children’s education. The report concluded that most parents whose children did not use mobile devices or who were less believing of the benefits of using devices to enhance learning do not have college degrees. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 30.4% of all U.S. adults aged 25+ have earned a Bachelor’s degree, which breaks down to 50.8% of Asians, 34% of Whites, 20.2% of Blacks, and 14.1% of Hispanics. Seventy-eight percent of parents surveyed in the Grunwald/AT&T report indicated that someone in the family owns a “personal or portable computer” with 52% saying their children use these devices. Forty-six percent of parents surveyed own a tablet, with 34% of their children using it. Additionally, in a recent Pew Research study, 62% of parents believed libraries should offer access to a wider selection of e-books.   

Disney’s media networks business is enjoying its most profitable year ever, generating $5 billion in revenues in 1Q13, which grew by 6% since last year. ESPN led Disney’s growth, with its ad revenue up 10% in 1Q13. However, ABC – the company’s broadcasting unit – continues to struggle, with operating income down 40%, even though Shonda Rhimes‘ Scandal is breaking ratings barriers and is on track to become the #1 drama on TV for the second time in 3 weeks. Last Thursday, Scandal was up in ratings by 68% among 18-49 year olds, compared to the same night last year. Scandal also outperformed Fox’s American Idol for the first time ever last Thursday night, according to Nielsen.

The White House released new open data rules to make data the federal government collects more accessible by the public.

Nielsen reported that the number of TV Households are up 1.2% since 2012 to 115.6 million. Further, the Leichtman Research Group (LRG) report found that more than 1/4 of U.S. adults watch video daily on devices other than TVs. Nielsen will begin including Internet viewers in its ratings estimates later this year.

A University of Montreal discussion paper showed a positive correlation between broadband adoption and marriage rates among 21-30 year olds.

A Park Associates report found that 78% of U.S. broadband households have a home network. This rate is expected to increase to 95% by 2016.

The Federal Communications Commission released its quarterly report on consumer inquiries and informal complaints. Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) matters comprised more than half (58%) of inquiries. Radio and television complaints increased by 104% and cable and satellite services complaints increased by 67% in the 4th quarter of 2012, compared to the 3rd quarter of 2012. The FCC attributed most of the increase in complaints in these two categories to programming.

Fortune: Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze Media Network generates between $35 and $45 million in annual revenues.

Media and Technology Stats and Studies – May 6, 2013

In an advertising sales pitch to advertisers at the Digital Content NewFronts this week, a top YouTube executive reported that YouTube viewers spend 2 billion more hours per month watching videos on the service than they did last year. Last year, 1 billion unique viewers watched 4 billion hours of YouTube content per month, compared to 6 billion hours per month this year. According to RBC Capital Markets, YouTube generated $4 billion in revenue in 2012, compared to $2.5 billion in 2011. One year ago, the Washington Post reported that a “disproportionate share of YouTube’s top personalities are minorities,” with the top channel attracting more than “5 million subscribers — enough to attract the attention of major advertisers.” Many other NewFronts presenters – including Univision, which participated in the NewFronts for the first time; CBS Interactive; Hulu Latino; and CNET – touted their goals to tailor their programming to attract Spanish-speaking viewers. Pew has reported that 79% of minorities visit video sharing sites, compared to 69% of whites. As the Joint Center has previously reported, a Horowitz Associates report found that, while Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans are as likely as their White counterparts to have access to over-the-top (OTT) platforms - such as Netflix, Roku, and Hulu - they are more likely to use them regularly to watch video content.

Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business released a report evaluating what in its view would be the likely economic impact of the incentive auctions. The report concludes that limiting the bidding rights of the largest carriers would cause inefficiencies, including 40% less revenue from auction proceeds. One of the report’s authors also determined that hampering large carriers’ ability to participate in the auctions would actually lead to a 22-46 MHz spectrum deficit and a loss of 118,000 jobs by 2017.

Social media use is driven by a fear of missing out on keeping up with friends, according to a forthcoming report in Computers and Human Behavior. This fear was most prevalent among social media users under age 30 and correlated with a higher likelihood of texting while driving.

The Digital Entertainment Group reported a 5% year-over-year increase in sales of movies and TV shows during the 1st quarter, to $4.69 billion in 2013.

Parents with minor children are more likely to be deeply engaged with their public libraries, with lower-income households showing more demand for e-readers and classes on how to use e-readers, according to Pew Research: “Parents living in households earning less than $50,000 are more likely than parents in higher income households to say they would be ‘very likely’ to take advantage of: classes on how to download library e-books (44% vs. 29%); e-readers already loaded with library content (40% vs. 22%); digital media lab (40% vs. 28%); classes on how to use e-readers (34% vs. 16%).”

The University of Southern California has received a $3.25 million Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant to build capacity for measuring the impact of media.

Media and Technology Stats and Studies – April 30, 2013

UCLA’s Children’s Digital Media Center found that among children between the ages of 9 and 15, those who use social media often are more interested in becoming famous than other kids the same age. Earlier this year, Pew found Blacks and Hispanics to be the most avid users of Twitter and Instagram. Interestingly, the Girl Scouts found girls who are interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) to anticipate that they will become famous at a lower rate (29%) than girls who did not report being interested in STEM (41%).

Pew released a study of civic engagement online. The report found people higher up on the socioeconomic ladder were more likely to “participate in civic life” online. Among Blacks, Whites and Hispanics, Hispanics overall were the least likely to be politically active both on and offline.

A Texas A&M University study found typed and voice-activated texting to be equally as distracting while driving.

Google reported that it has received more content removal requests from governments worldwide than ever before.

In a review of how well “covered entities” under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act have safeguarded patient data, the Department of Health and Human Services found most problems were caused by entities not being aware of the data and privacy rules in the Act.  Sixty-percent of problems were related to data security, 30% pertained to data privacy, and 10% related to data breach notifications.

Nielsen reports that affluent homes are more likely to subscribe to streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Plus, and Hulu. Homes making $100,000 or more were 85% more likely to subscribe to streaming services.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers found that while customers are reducing their talk time and using more data on their mobile plans, average revenue per postpaid customer with smartphones fell from $82.75 per month in 2011 to $77.79 in 2012.

Media and Technology Stats and Studies – April 22, 2013

A Horowitz Associates report found that, while Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans are as likely as their White counterparts to have access to over-the-top (OTT) platforms - such as Netflix, Roku, and Hulu - they are more likely to use them regularly to watch video content. Half of Black (49%) and Hispanic (53%) consumers watch OTT content at least weekly, as do almost two-thirds (61%) of Asians. In contrast, 39% of White consumers watch OTT content on at least a weekly basis.

The results of a Zogby Analytics poll of 1,000 adults revealed that, among all internet privacy-related issues, just 4% of respondents were concerned about cyber-bullying. Paradoxically, a 2011 Ohio State University study found that African American and Hispanic students who were cyber-bulllying victims showed sharper grade point average declines than other racial and ethnic groups. Thirty-nine percent of respondents to the Zogby poll were concerned about identity theft, 33% about viruses and malware, 12% about government surveillance, and 4% about targeted advertising.

An analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data conducted by Dice shows gains in women working in tech. However, most of the gains were seen in consulting jobs, rather than full-time positions. Forty-six percent of consulting jobs were awarded to women, but women comprise just 31% of the tech sector overall.Forrester Research reported a double digit gap in online TV viewing between younger and older TV viewers. Twenty-seven percent of young viewers between the ages of 18-24 watch TV online 5 or more hours per week, compared to 12% among 25-49 year olds and 9% of 35-44-year-olds. Nielsen also released a report assessing behavior among younger viewers. The Nielsen report found that, in the fourth quarter of 2012, teens watched video on mobile phones to a greater degree than any other age group surveyed, consuming 18% more video on their mobile devices than 18- to 24-year-olds and 46% more than persons ages 25-34. The Nielsen report also found that 42% of young adults are African American, Latino, or Hispanic.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau reported a 111% spike in mobile advertising spending in 2012. Advertisers spent $3.4 billion on mobile advertising last year.

A Nielsen/Newspaper Association of America report found readers to be less engaged viewing local newspaper websites on their mobile phones than they were viewing national news websites. Just 8% of respondents viewed a local newspaper website on their mobile phone “today”, compared to 43% for those viewing a national newspaper website.

A Simon-Kucher and Partners study of 2,700 high-end decision-makers at international media companies predicted 90% of online content would be behind a paywall by the end of the next three years.

Viewers flocked to TV news outlets for coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday. NBC reported the largest audience, with 8.8 million viewers tuning into its 10 p.m. special report.

The Center for Digital Education and National School Boards Association reported a 44% increase in the number of school districts overall that use social networks, with 74% now reporting a social media presence. Thirty-two percent of districts reported a lack of computers as the biggest obstacle to preparing for upcoming Common Core online assessments.

Amazon is gaining on Apple in music downloads. According to NPD Group, Amazon had 22% of the music download market in 2012, compared to 15% in 2008. Apple iTunes’ share slipped from 69% in 2009 to 63% in 2012.

Social media usage is declining in the U.S., according to Experian Marketing Services. In 2010, users spent 30% of their time online using social networks. That number has declined to 27%.

Verizon saw a 16% growth in profits in the first quarter of 2013.

Intel’s overall first-quarter revenues declined 2.5% to $12.6 billion compared to last year. The company’s net income dropped 25%. The earning results reinforced existing doubts about the health of the PC market.

Media and Technology Stats and Studies – April 15, 2013

Several civil rights groups urged the FCC to complete its diversity studies before departing Chairman Julius Genachowski leaves office. The Chairman delayed the release of long-awaited rule changes, pending the release of a separate study being conducted by the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (MMTC), which MMTC has said would evaluate the effect a proposed rule to relax the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rule would have on female and minority broadcasters. The civil rights groups noted that the MMTC study is much narrower in scope than the diversity studies the FCC is required to conduct before changing any of its media ownership rules and that the MMTC study alone would not provide a sufficient basis for relaxing the rules. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies filed a letter with the FCC in December urging the agency to delay relaxing the media ownership rules before developing a robust empirical basis for doing so.

President Obama released his 2014 budget proposal containing, among other items, provisions for increased investments in education. If approved by Congress, the budget would increase the Department of Education’s discretionary spending budget by 4.6% to $71.2 billion. The budget contains a number of proposals aimed at addressing STEM achievement gaps, including a proposal to streamline existing STEM programs, funds for expanding access to pre-school to all four-year-olds, improving high schools, encouraging public-private partnerships between schools and employers, and rewarding states for making public higher education more affordable.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting lauded President Obama for including in his budget proposal full advance funding for CPB through 2016. CPB CEO Patricia Harrison said the $445 million appropriation proposal for CPB funding “reinforces the value of public media’s in-depth news reporting, our commitment to providing a safe place where children can learn, on-air, online, and in the community, and our commitment to lifelong learning through initiatives such as ‘American Graduate’ helping to keep America’s young people on the path to a high school diploma.”  An NTI/PBS study recently showed PBS Kids’ TV and online media outlets attract a higher proportion of African American, Hispanic, and low-income households compared to their proportion of the overall population. A 2010 study of 600 pre-school children showed children who viewed PBS’ Sesame Street increased their ability to articulate scientific concepts by 100%.

Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam stated in a speech at the National Association of Broadcasters’ conference last week that 50% of Verizon’s wireless traffic comes from video. Mr. McAdam expects video to make up two-thirds of Verizon’s wireless traffic by 2017.

Video services firm Ooyala reported that consumers watch live video 2.5 times longer than they spend watching Video-on-Demand (VOD).

A neurological study conducted by WPP, Australian TV network 7, and market research firm Neuro-Insight found that dual-screen viewers returned to TV screens 9% more engaged after shifting their attention to their tablets. 

Market research firm Canalys reported that, among Google Play, Apple’s App Store, the Microsoft Windows Phone Store, and Research in Motion’s Blackberry World, Google Play showed the highest number of app downloads (51%) with Apple taking 74% of more than $2.2 billion in app revenues among the 4 companies.

The magazine industry has shown sharp declines in ad pages, but data collected by Adobe via its Data Publishing Suite, combined with research from the Pew Research Center, show a few bright spots in the digital edition magazine market which may help offset declines in print revenues. Overall, the number of pages devoted to print advertising in magazines declined 4.8% in the first quarter. However, spending on advertising on digital platforms in magazines grew by 22% ($1.3 billion) last year.