Who’s Using What Media and When?
Click here to see the graphic!
It’s sometimes amazing to step back and take stock of how much technology has penetrated our lives. The idea, even just 10 years ago, that every one of us would be walking around with a cell phone – let alone cell phones that could access the Internet, play video, and come equipped with touch screens – would have sounded like mere fantasy. But that’s exactly the world we live in now, and for most of us, it’s been a welcome change. News is now at our fingertips as it occurs. Twitter feeds keep us up to date on the minutiae of celebrity’s lives, as well as huge world events. Some might not agree that our media consumption is of a higher quality these days, but no one can deny that it’s both increased and diversified.
That’s why the 2011 report on media consumption, based on data provided by Magid Generational Studies and compiled by Advertising Age, comes at such an ideal moment. We know that we’re all constantly bombarded by media streams from a variety of platforms, but that’s always as detailed as our knowledge gets. Finally, we can look at a picture – literally – of exactly when and where this consumption takes place, and by whom. Media consumption is broken down by generation, profiling the Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, Teen Millennials and newly christened iGen. The age range is wider than any media use survey we’ve come across, and it provides a wonderful opportunity for comparison across generations. Which brings us to the next cool feature of this data set: use is also broken down by time of day. When Gen X is at work, for example, all Internet activities shoot up in usage, while newspaper reading drops out completely.
While this information is valuable from a pure interest angle, it will also doubtlessly pique the interest of business leaders as well. As tech comes into its own as one of the dominant forces in world commerce, consumers’ trends of consumption become priceless data for companies attempting to reach them. Who uses what media products, and when, is the crux of market research for many in the tech sector.
So check out the infographic, and see where you fit into 2011′s media matrix.
