Digital Media | Research

As our target audience is aimed at students, we thought it would be a good idea to create some social media accounts while also making our website mobile friendly.
I decided to do some research on how people usually get their news - whether its from the TV or some a device.

According to a Digital News Report in 2013, here are my findings: (http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/survey/2013/executive-summary-and-key-findings-2013/)

Compared to the results in 2012, the use of tablets has doubled. In the UK, the access to news through a device has risen from 8% to 16%, and in Denmark the access to news through a device has risen from 13% to 25%.

The computer is still the primary device for accessing the news digitally, but there is an underlying trend on the growth of access from devices.

85% of computer users say they access the news on that device weekly, but only 63% use smartphones, 60% use tablets, 54% use smart TVs and 17% use e-reader. Across all the countries that took this survey, an average 49% said they also read a newspaper at least once a week. 81% also then watch TV for the news.

It is quite clear that 18-44 year olds are more likely to use the internet to access their news, and the over 45 year olds are likely to use the TV. This split is defined more by the age of the public than any other factor. This then reflects the habits of those who have grown up with the internet rather than adapting to it.

When asked what media they used when accessing the news on the go, 48% said they use their mobile phone, while 34% use printed newspapers and 6% use tablets. This shows that people are more likely to look to their phone when getting the news which also then suggests that online news is used more than others.

It is very clear, from this question, that under 45s in the UK use social media as a way to find the news, whereas the over 45s that use social media is a lower number. This is probably due to the fact that the under 45s have grown with the adapting online websites, whereas the over 45s are less reluctant to stop using the traditional ways of finding news.

This survey has helped a lot with deciding on how we want our main media for our news show to be, and how to adapt our work to suit our target audience. Josh has made our website mobile friendly, which will help towards our audience getting the news without having to go on the computer to find it.