The "old" zap elsewhere
IP Multimedia (Switzerland) Challenges Prejudices About Young People's Media Use
IP Multimedia (Switzerland) confronts prejudices about young people's media useHow do young people use the new media? How does their behavior affect the "old" media? Is traditional media losing out on the usage time that the new offerings are taking up? In the April issue of its newsletter OnAir, IPM (Switzerland) contradicts some preconceptions about the media behavior of young people and "old people". On the one hand, more and more media are vying for the audience's attention. On the other hand, however, the total time budget for media use is hardly increasing. In view of this fact, one would expect that more frequent use of one medium would reduce the time spent using other media. To find this out, IPM calculated correlations between the various media. The result: no medium was able to systematically reduce the usage time of other media.
IPM cites the use of the internet and television as an example. Although the online presence of young people has increased massively in recent years, there has been no noticeable decline in TV usage. Nor have print media had to accept any cutbacks. At least not to date. According to IPM, however, this could change. She suspects that magazines could be the first victims of the digital revolution. The reason: both types of media focus on comparable core competencies such as travel, music, eroticism or health.
Another prejudice that IPM is trying to refute concerns zapping behavior. Are young people really the most diligent zappers, as the now more than ten-year-old theory claims? IPM's conclusion is that there are no longer any age-related differences in zapping behavior. There are only differences in where zapping takes place. In the case of public broadcasters, it is the younger age groups who zap significantly more often, while the older generation has their finger on the trigger much more often in the case of private broadcasters (see chart).
The IPM study on print media use provides a pleasing result. Whereas in 1995 only around a quarter of young people read a newspaper several times a week, this figure had risen to almost three quarters by 2001. A development that can probably be attributed above all to the market entry of commuter newspapers. Daniel Schifferle
IPM cites the use of the internet and television as an example. Although the online presence of young people has increased massively in recent years, there has been no noticeable decline in TV usage. Nor have print media had to accept any cutbacks. At least not to date. According to IPM, however, this could change. She suspects that magazines could be the first victims of the digital revolution. The reason: both types of media focus on comparable core competencies such as travel, music, eroticism or health.
Another prejudice that IPM is trying to refute concerns zapping behavior. Are young people really the most diligent zappers, as the now more than ten-year-old theory claims? IPM's conclusion is that there are no longer any age-related differences in zapping behavior. There are only differences in where zapping takes place. In the case of public broadcasters, it is the younger age groups who zap significantly more often, while the older generation has their finger on the trigger much more often in the case of private broadcasters (see chart).
The IPM study on print media use provides a pleasing result. Whereas in 1995 only around a quarter of young people read a newspaper several times a week, this figure had risen to almost three quarters by 2001. A development that can probably be attributed above all to the market entry of commuter newspapers. Daniel Schifferle
