U.S. consumers derive more value from media online—net of the associated costs—than they receive from offline media, according to research by The Boston Consulting Group.
BCG calculates that the average U.S. online user, receives a "consumer surplus" from online media of approximately $970 per year compared with approximately $900 for offline media. Consumer surplus is defined as the value consumers themselves place on a media-related activity or product over and above what they pay for it.
The BCG study examined the surplus consumers derive from books, radio and music, U.S. newspapers and magazines, TV and movies, video games, international newspapers and magazines, and user-generated content (UGC) and social networks.
