VISHAL SINGH102516066

A STUDY INTO THE NEWS CONSUMPTION PATTERNS AMONG THE INDIAN YOUNG ADULTS.

MBA M&E - BROADCASTWWI

INTRODUCTION

Usages of Traditional & Online media platforms.

Provides evidence for assumption that Traditional media losing their

luster among the young adults .

Estimates of decline vary greatly , most of the Analysts believe that

the digital media Revolution is bringing young people back to news .

The common notion that no young person cares about news in

wrong. Genre of news might vary , its just that young Indian adults are

moving to a different distribution platform.

A lot of broadcasters might thus argue & disagreements might exist

over “what is news”, doesn’t necessarily mean that this audience can

be neglected.

Comparing the News consumption on the internet and TV.

Determining the ‘Newsfulness’ of the various devices.

Determining how enjoyable a particular device is.

Preference of a particular platform for news access.

Identifying the sources of the News being accessed.

Regional News is on the rise , but does it appeal to the

Young adults.

Efficiency of both the platforms Traditional(TV) vis-à-vis

Internet.

OBJECTIVES

Research primarily aims to build upon what is known from

the existing surveys over the internet.

Conducted a questionnaire survey based on the Qualitative

sampling method over 5 metropolitan cities.

TG: 18-30 Sec A/B Sample size :300

The surveys were conducted over the Internet via an Online

Questionnaire whereas the Mumbai samples’ Responses

were collected through field visits and one on one

interactions.

Analysis tools applied : Surveymonkey.com, SPSS, Excel.

METHADOLOGY

Following steps have been followed .

Finding the Average time Spent by a User over the Internet

for News access.

Finding the Average Time Spent by the viewer on the TV

News channels

Qualitative Sampling via an Internet Based Questionnaire

Survey ( Field Visits to Mumbai based respondents)

PLAN OF ACTION

Multiple News Enterprises & Multiplatform News consumption

leading to convergence.

Growing internet penetration in India

News Needs Change with age & sex.

Youth is realizing the benefits of news.

Rise in Social Networks & UGCs.

Problems faced by news channels making it difficult for them to

sustain their existing Business Models.

I. Operational Costs much higher.

II. Carriage Fees & Placement Fees

III. Overdependence on Ad- Revenues.

IV. Low Subscription Revenues.

ANALYSIS OF THE SECONDARY DATA

ANALYSIS: PRIMARY DATA

Penetration Rates of Devices:

94% of respondents owned or

had regular access to a

Desktop/Laptop

Penetration of TV

comparatively lower at 85%

65% of the respondents owned

a smartphone and the tablet

penetration was around 16%.

Rank the following online modes of news consumption based on your preference (1-4).

Answer OptionsRank

1Rank

2Rank 3 Rank 4

Rating Average

News Websites 93 75 63 54 2.27

News Aggregating websites (Google, yahoo etc) 69 120 72 24 2.18

News aggregating mobile apps (pulse ,stumble upon etc) 33 48 63 141 3.09

Social Networks (Twitter , FB etc) 90 84 75 36 2.20

Respondents asked to rank the following modes/ sources of news over

the internet. Rank 1 : most preferred & Rank 4: Least preferred.

Following is the ranking in its order:

1. News Aggregating Websites(google,yahoo)

2. Social Networks (Twitter, FB etc)

3. News Websites

4. News Aggregating Mobile Apps(Pulse)

Following are the rankings of the various platforms based on their weighted

averages:

1. Computer - 2.38 (most preferred)

2. Mobile - 2.55

3. TV - 2.56

4. Newspaper - 2.76

5. Tablets - 4.28 (least preferred)

The respondents owned a series of multipurpose devices, but how likely were they to use those

devices for News accessing? It was found that a majority of the respondents access news

regularly on their computers almost 64% , whereas almost 57% of them view the TV news or

read newspapers regularly. More than 35% users access News regularly on their

smartphones & a little over 8% use their tablets for news access.

This shows that with the increasingly fast paced life in the metros people are more

comfortable accessing news over the internet than watch their TVs, proves the reasons for

low Time spends on TV.

A B C D EOwnership/

Access(%)

Use for news atleast once a week

(%)

Use for news everyday

(%)

NewsfulnessWeekly(B/A)

NewsfulnessDaily(C/A)

Computer(desktop,laptop) 94.7 34.7 63.2 0.37 0.67

Smartphone 64.2 17.2 35.5 0.27 0.55

TV 84.2 37.9 56.8 0.45 0.67

Tablets 15.8 7.6 8.7 0.48 0.55

The table illustrates that the TV & computer by far are the most

Newsful devices with almost 67% of the TG who own them use these on a

daily basis for accessing news or viewing news content.

The table shows how frequently these devices are used for news access

but the this may not prove the efficiency of that platform as the Time

spends on that platform might be considerably low even though it is used

frequesntly on a daily basis. (ex. TV)

Entertainment News tops with 81% as the TGs most preferred

genre of news. It is followed by Sports , international ,Business,

Political & Regional News @ 60%, 58%, 53.7%, 48% & 47%.

This also shows that the Regional news is not very popular with

this age category. (Yet Regional news has grown @ 22% in 2011

since 2010).

75% of the young adults (most likely + Very likely) believe convenience is

important when it comes to news consumption .

For a majority of the young adults News isn’t a strong driving content which

would lead them to specifically tune into a particular news channel for

viewing it. Most of them end up grazing news on the net because it is easily

available , quick updates straight to their system/ device. As far as

Television is concerned they end up viewing news mostly while surfing the

channels

Electronic Devices Enjoyment level

Among users(0-7)

Traditional Platforms Enjoyment level

Among users (0-7)

Laptop 5.89 Print Newspaper 5.94

Desktop 5.19 Television 6.09

Smartphones 5.52

Tablets 5.46

Average 5.5 Average 6.01

Enjoyment Level : New Devices vs. Legacy Platforms

When asked how users evaluate different devices in terms of enjoyment

and how new devices fare in comparison with the legacy platforms (e.g.,

print newspapers & TV) the following were the responses on a scale of

0-7 . The Table illustrates the results as to which platform is more

enjoyable .Among the new devices, the laptop & Smartphones are the

most enjoyable. The average score for the new devices is 5.5, trailing

behind the average (6.01) for legacy platforms (i.e., print newspapers &

TV).

Not all Devices are Newsful

News on newer platforms not yet a reality but the fact that digital media is

taking away a large chunk of the audience cant be neglected.

Solution : Targeting the young adults ( 18-30) with tailored content &

concentrating on developing loyalty amongst them for the channel.

RECOMMENDATIONS/SOLUTIONS

CONCLUSIONS

Operational Efficiency: Need to rationalize the Carriage fees,

Placement fees.

Redefining the Revenue market: Over dependence on the

advertising revenues(reducing that), Subscriptions, Tailor made

content (niche) to enable increased brand investments.