Newspapers Still As Popular As SocNets in the US

January 31, 2013

This article is included in these additional categories:

Media & Entertainment | Newspapers | Radio | Social Media | Television

KPMG-Top-Offline-Online-Activities-US-Jan2013Newspaper ad revenues are tumbling, and one-third of marketers recently said they’re shifting focus away from this medium. At the same time, consumers are spending large chunks of time on social media, something not lost on marketers. But surprise, according to at least one survey [pdf], newspapers remain just as popular among Americans as social networks. That survey, from KPMG International, found that in the past month, 58% of US respondents read a newspaper, while 57% visited a social networking or blogging site.

Traditional media channels, while losing marketing budgets to digital media, still boast impressive reach. For example, 88% of the KPMG survey respondents reported having watched TV in the prior month, and 74% said they’d listened to the radio.

It’s worth noting that this survey looks at monthly use, so does not measure daily consumption. Facebook just reported, for example, that it had on average 618 million daily active users worldwide in December 2012, including 135 million in the US and Canada. And Ipsos survey results (see link above) indicate that the average American adult spends 2 hours a day social networking. Still, Nielsen’s latest cross-platform report finds that Americans (aged 2 and older) spend an average of more than 4 hours a day watching TV.

What’s more, the KPMG study finds that while consumers across the 9 countries measured share their time evenly between traditional and digital media, they allocate more of their monthly media budgets to traditional (TV/video primarily) than digital media. Still, the report cautions that 14% of US consumers now prefer to watch TV on their mobile or tablet.

The data suggests that while there is good reason to examine the rise in digital and social media, the vast popularity and reach of traditional media should not be overlooked.

About the Data: The Digital Debate research, conducted byYouGov Plc on behalf of KPMG International, gathered the views of over 9,000 consumers across nine different markets ”“ Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Singapore, Spain, the UK and the US.

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