Changing Patterns of News Media Use in Austria

London.
The next session at Transforming Audiences starts with Birgit Stark, presenting a longitudinal study of Internet and traditional news media in Austria. This operates in the context of the question of whether online news is replacing ot complementing print newspapers and other news sources. Here, current research is not yet conclusive, Birgit says - the phenomenon of media substitution, if it does exist, is still in development, and while there are some indications that especially younger users are replacing older news media with online news, it is unclear how far this trend may go.

The Austrian Media-Analyse study has been running now since 1965, examining the media use of Austrians aged 14 and above trough face-to-face interviews. Online media have been included in the survey since 1999, and there remain some problems with the level of detail available from the data.

The Austrian media market shows the typical features of a small state dominated by a larger neighbour speaking the same language; German investment plays a substantial role in the market, and overall, the newspaper market is highly concentrated (with the Kronen-Zeitung as the market leader). There is a strong orientation towards the tabloid press, and an important role is played also by the public broadcaster ORF.

The daily reach of print newspapers has declined slightly over time; Internet use (and intensive Internet use - a separate category) have grown markedy over the past decade. Also surprisingly strong is radio use (upwards of 80% of Austrians above 14 years use the radio daily). The reach of print newspapers has declined most strongly in the 14-19 and 20-29-year-old age bands. Respondents of the study were also asked to self-assess the extent to which their use of online media replaced other media forms; in 2005, 20% pointed to television, 18% to newspapers, and 11% to radio as media forms being replaced by online media.

It is possible, then, to identify a number of categories of users: online-only users (who tend to be younger, more often male, with higher educatiuon, employed or students), both print and online users (like online, but more often with higher education, and middle-aged), print-only users (older, more often female), and non-readers (all ages, more often female, lower education). Online-only users currently account for 7% of the population, online and print users for 16%, non-users for 23%, and print-only users for 54%; however, online-only and online and print users are growing steadily, while the number of print-only users is declining, especially amongst the middle age bands (at a rate of around -20% per annum in some age bands).

So, signs of media use displacement effects are visible in Austria; a complementary model of media use continues to be practiced especially by the middle age bands (between 30 and 44 years), while displacement effects are stronger amongst younger users for whom the Internet is a much more important news source. The younger users tend to abandon newspapers altogether, and these patterns of change are likely to continue over time.

Technorati : Austria, Internet, Transforming Audiences 2009, media, news, substitution
Del.icio.us : Austria, Internet, Transforming Audiences 2009, media, news, substitution