TV sees off threat from Facebook

In spite of rapid growth, Facebook, the website, is still a long way from overtaking TV in the nation's hearts, research shows. The average Briton watches almost four hours of television a day, compared with only 45 minutes' daily intake of Facebook. But the website increased its share of total time spent online from 7.2 per cent a year ago to 12.7 per cent in April 2009, Nielsen's data suggest.

TV viewing during the first three months of the year was broadly flat on the fourth quarter of 2008, with commercial impacts - the number of advertisements seen - up by 2 per cent year-on-year.

Tim Bradshaw