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[London, ENGLAND] A study conducted in the U.K., Germany, France and Sweden, and published this week by AdLINK Internet Media AG, shows that the Internet is gaining ground on traditional media such as television.

51 percent of U.K. interviewees said they had less time to watch television once they got online. Other countries showed even higher rates, with Germany at 52 percent, and France at 59 percent.

What's more: it is not only television that is affected. Print media, says AdLINK, are also severely hit by a decline in usage, 29 percent of the 1310 respondents interviewed saying they were reading fewer periodicals and newspapers as a result of using the Internet.

Michael Kleindl, chief executive of AdLINK commented that radical changes are taking place in media usage -- and the advertising market would have to change to keep pace with these new developments by adding the Internet to the more traditional media mix.

"The old economy, which at present accounts for more than 80 percent of AdLINK's revenues, will be restructuring its budgets," said Kleindl.

For the study, respondents were asked about their media access and equipment, Internet experience, and why they wanted to use the Internet.

Significantly, 90 percent of those interviewed claimed that the time they spent online did not interfere with their normal social life, even though it cut into their reading and viewing time.

Other interesting factoids to emerge from the study are that most people (two thirds of the interviewees) tend to use the same Web sites. As many as 70 percent of U.K. users bookmarked less than 20 sites -- a strong indication that many people do not really "surf" at all.

AdLINK says that the study, conducted by Infratest Burke, will shortly be made available for downloading from the AdLINK site.