Internet usage in Canada continues to rise, a trend that will soon make the web the top medium for Canadians under 55, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada’s 2008 Media Usage Trend Study.

The study was prepared for IAB by media firm PHD Canada, which drew on information from research by NADbank, comScore, PMB and BBM. Top-level results were presented yesterday at an Advertising Week forum by Robert Young, senior vice-president, planning services for PHD Canada.

According to the report, the Internet was the third-ranked medium among Canadian adults in 2007, the most recent year for which data was available. Canadians spent an average of 543 minutes per week online that year, trailing only television (818 minutes) and radio (678 minutes). Newspapers (223 minutes) and magazines (99 minutes) ranked fourth and fifth, respectively.

However, the Internet was already the top-ranked medium for Canadians 18 to 35, a cohort that will maintain its usage habits as it ages.

“We have found that people form their media usage patterns in their late teens and early 20s, and tend to hang on to them,” said Young, adding that the trend should result in online becoming the top medium for the 35-54 age group within the next eight years.

Young’s “The Internet Imperative” presentation also included information that suggested a correlation between high Internet usage, affluence and education.

“It’s become the media of record for youth and highly educated, high-income earners,” he said.

Older Canadians are also spending more time online, with usage growing faster in the over-55 age group than in any other cohort, although overall minutes per week (265) remains lower than younger demographics. Similarly, women are closing the gap on men in terms of minutes spent online.

Overall, online usage accounted for 23% of Canadians’ media time in 2007, up from 14% in 2001. Internet usage also grew by 5% between 2006 and 2007.