( Fast Company ) -- The iPad is changing how folks read stuff online -- no surprise if you think how different a gizmo it is to a PC . But a new study shows it 's moving online reading into primetime TV hours , which is big news . Is evening reading coming back , just in a digital style ? The study comes from internal data acquired by ReadItLater , a web service that lets users bookmark web content for perusal at a different time . Though you may think this slightly colors the dataset , the way this service works gives the company unique access to time-coded data on how iPad users ( and traditional computer users ) read content online . By looking at how traffic moves through their servers , normalized for global time differences , the ReadItLater team worked out how traditional PC users spread their online reading out during the day . As you may expect , given how deeply into our everyday lives the computer has penetrated , the curve of content consumption is pretty stable -- not much happens in the wee small hours of the day , then as people wake and go to work there 's more traffic , with a small peak spread out around traditional lunch hours and another around 8 p.m. after the evening meal . When you look at iPhone and iPad user traffic , distinct from `` normal '' PCs , everything is suddenly very different . iPhone users have distinct peaks in their reading habits , timed to correspond with the morning routine of breakfast , then a commute to work , the end of the work day and homeward journey , and then last thing in the evening . This matches the iPhone 's status as a handy , portable , always-on Net browser that 's good for quick content consumption . But it 's with the iPad that the statistics get very odd indeed : With minor usage spikes first thing in the morning , at lunchtime and then dinner time , the main bulk of iPad text content consumption is from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.. Fast Company : iPad 2 rumor round-up . This is prime-time TV 's slot , and it seems that as well as settling back on the sofa to watch TV , people are taking their iPad with them too . The data does n't reveal if folk are multitasking ( spending some time ogling their favorite shows , some looking data up on the Web ) or are ignoring the TV altogether -- but the data will still be of concern to TV execs who expect uninterrupted attention from TV watchers , in order to maximize ad revenues . Plus it 's something of a return to a traditional leisure hour image : People settling down on the couch after the evening meal to read the paper or a book , possibly to listen to the radio at the same time . Remembering a study last year that showed how much time users devote to reading magazines on an iPad , we have to wonder is the iPad causing a renaissance in reading -- just digitally , and with Web content as well as digital books content ? Fast Company : More technology coverage . If this is true , then Rupert Murdoch 's Daily iPad newspaper is arriving with pinpoint timing . And the hordes of Android tablets that have just arrived should accentuate the effect . This is thus something that PR and advertising executives need to pay careful attention to , because the attention focus of the average consumer may be switching away from the TV to their other ( newer ) powerful glowing screen -- in their laps . Copyright © 2010 FastCompany.com , a unit of Mansueto Ventures , LLC . All rights reserved .
Main bulk of iPad text content consumption is from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Data does n't reveal if folk are multitasking by watching TV at the same time . It 's something of a return to a traditional leisure hour image .