Is it worth spending time with "Time Spent"?

I have been working with a number of clients recently talking about their reticence to really embracing digital. Now, I don't mean messing around at the edges; I mean really really embracing digital. So I found myself standing up in front of a group of senior marketers including the global CMO telling them that despite people spending 30% of their 'media time' with digital, only 13% of advertising investment is allocated online

Here's the chart:



Suddenly I find my legs turn to jelly. If "Time Spent" is so important doesn't that make Google search unattractive? Google gives you quick and relevant results...they want to get you somewhere else - fast! Also, if I was a web designer wouldn't I just use all sorts of underhand tactics to slow down users?

So what should we use instead of time spent?

I think the answer has to be that there aren't any one-size-fits-all measures just because a brand exists on the web. Surely if you are using search that's different to if you are using YouTube or FaceBook (where time spent is a better measure i would expect)

So it looks like that, just like in the offline world, we start with the objectives and then define the measurement...just doesn't make for an easy first slide for the CMO