As more Americans trade TV sets for computer monitors, one thing is certain: They're taking their snacks with them. A survey conducted on the Snax.com home page (http://www.snax.com) found that 88 percent of the 8,000 respondents said they snack while surfing the Net or doing other computing. And they're surfing a lot-73 percent said they spend more than an hour surfing the Net every day.
Many Americans are trading their remote for their mouse, and they're making sure they have plenty of snacks on hand, too: 57 percent of respondents said they have pretzels, popcorn or potato chips in their kitchen cabinet. But the Internet has not yet caught up with TV as Americans' reigning multi-media snack partner. The majority of respondents (65 percent) say they still snack most while watching TV. Snack food industry experts believe this number is on the decline.
"With the Internet being the fastest growing medium in history, there is a strong likelihood that surfing the Net will become more popular than watching TV," says Bill Sheehan, vice president of communications at the Snack Food Association (SFA). "As a result, snacking behavior will most likely follow suit. Snacking trends tend to reflect larger social trends because snacking is so strongly linked with popular pastimes-the fads tend to change, but our love for snacks is a lasting phenomenon."
Another trend driving snack consumption while at the computer is the increase in use of computers for fun rather than for work. Eighty-three percent of Snax.com survey respondents said they cruise the Net most often at home, for recreation, rather than at work-a notable 21 percent increase from last year's survey.
While Nielsen ratings show that TV-watching is on the decline, Internet usage continues to skyrocket. A survey from Forrester Research predicts that 42.5 percent of U.S. households will be online by 2001. "As more Americans log on when they get home from school or work," Sheehan notes, "the traditional 'TV dinner' as we know it may indeed give way to the 'Internet snack.'"
The Snax.com survey shows that this "Internet snack" is likely to be something low- or non-fat. When asked which snack foods they currently had in their cupboard, a remarkable 71 percent of respondents said low- or no-fat snacks, which mirrors a larger trend in the snack food industry. Sales of low- and no-fat snacks are currently the fastest-growing segment of the industry and are attracting people who may not otherwise snack, researchers say.
Snax.com (http://www.snax.com) is the official home page of the Snack Food Association and The National Potato Promotion Board. It is dedicated to providing snackers around the world with interesting and fun information about snacks, as well as interactive online snacking activities. SFA is an international trade association of the approximately 900 company members that represent snack manufacturers and suppliers to the snack food industry. The National Potato Promotion Board represents potato growers nationwide.
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