Technology continues to evolve. With it, news consumption continues to change and grow as well. As advertisers continue to search for better ways to reach consumers, understanding the factors that contribute to their behavior remains critically important. The 2015 Reuters Institute Digital News Report surveyed consumers from several countries around the world. Their results identified a number of key trends that advertisers should not only be aware of but also prepare for.
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Consumers’ definitions of “important news” are not monolithic.
When asked to identify the most important news to them, consumers from countries across the world selected various categories, including international news, regional news, local news, entertainment and celebrity news, business and economic news, and arts and cultural news. Understanding what news matters to consumers across the globe is critical to understanding what motivates them and how to best reach them.
Different generations value different news sources.
Overall, television is still the main source of news consumption in approximately 75% of all countries surveyed. However, when viewed generationally, the results are clearly split. The percentage of global consumers who use television as a primary source of news increases linearly by age. However, the inverse is true for the percentage of global consumers accessing news primarily from online sources.
This illustrates that older consumers value traditional methods of news consumption, such as television, for reliability and accuracy, speed, accessibility, and analysis. However, younger generations, specifically millennials value access to news online. Surprisingly though, millennials do not view social media as an accurate and reliable source of news, despite viewing it as a major source for news.
Digital access to news is critical across the globe.
Online news provides a unique opportunity for consumers to access news multiple times throughout the day. Subsequently, the more devices used for online access, the more frequently news is accessed. In majority of the countries surveyed, consumers reported they access news in a mainly digital format. Most consumers report accessing news 1-5 times per day.
Trust increases with age and access.
The U.S. ranked the lowest in overall trust of the news media. In addition, trust in news media increased with age, as well as more frequent access to news sources. Those accessing news sources less than once per day are less trusting than those accessing it more frequently.
Related: Looking Ahead to the Future: Media Trends for the Next Decade
Television news is fighting for attention.
While television news may be highly valued and still be a primary source of news consumption, it is also one that simultaneously competes for consumer attention. A large number of consumers report doing other things while watching television news, including checking emails, browsing the web, or browsing social media. This distraction increases as consumer age decreases, with millennials being the most distracted.
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What does this mean for advertisers?
While it is imperative that advertisers understand the changing demographics, it is equally important that they understand how users across the world access news, what matters to them, and how much they trust their news sources in order to accurately cater to consumers. What works for a demographic in one country may not apply for the same demographic in another country. In addition, targeting consumers on one channel may be insufficient, especially as multitasking is prevalent.
Mediaspectrum’s end-to-end order management system provides a full-scale solution for managing advertising sales across any media channel. From start to finish, our solution ensures that both your reach and revenue are maximized, regardless of the age and geographical location of your consumers. In addition, our content management system allows for simple collaboration, communication, creation, and multichannel publishing of content on a single, web-based platform.
As news consumption continues to evolve, it’s important that your organization adapt to changes while reaching your core audience. At Mediaspectrum, we make this as simple as possible for you.
To learn how to best reach customers across the globe, contact us today.
