1. A STUDY INTO THE NEWS CONSUMPTION PATTERNS
AMONG THE INDIAN YOUNG ADULTS.
MBA M&E - BROADCAST
WWI

2.  Usages of Traditional & Online media platforms.
 Provides evidence for assumption that Traditional media losing their luster
among the young adults .
 Estimates of decline vary greatly , most of the Analysts believe that the
digital media Revolution is bringing young people back to news .
 The common notion that no young person cares about news in wrong.
Genre of news might vary , its just that young Indian adults are moving to a
different distribution platform.
 A lot of broadcasters might thus argue & disagreements might exist over
“what is news”, doesn‟t necessarily mean that this audience can be neglected.

3.  Comparing the News consumption on the internet and TV.
 Determining the „Newsfulness‟ of the various devices.
 Determining how enjoyable a particular device is.
 Preference of a particular platform for news access.
 Identifying the sources of the News being accessed.
 Regional News is on the rise , but does it appeal to the Young
adults.
 Efficiency of both the platforms Traditional(TV) vis-à-vis
Internet.

4.  Research primarily aims to build upon what is known from the
existing surveys over the internet.
 Conducted a questionnaire survey based on the Qualitative
sampling method over 5 metropolitan cities.
 TG: 18-30 Sec A/B Sample size :300
 The surveys were conducted over the Internet via an Online
Questionnaire whereas the Mumbai samples‟ Responses were
collected through field visits and one on one interactions.
 Analysis tools applied : Surveymonkey.com, SPSS, Excel.

5. Following steps have been followed .
 Finding the Average time Spent by a User over the Internet for
News access.
 Finding the Average Time Spent by the viewer on the TV News
channels
 Qualitative Sampling via an Internet Based Questionnaire Survey
( Field Visits to Mumbai based respondents)

6.  Multiple News Enterprises & Multiplatform News consumption leading
to convergence.
 Growing internet penetration in India
 News Needs Change with age & sex.
 Youth is realizing the benefits of news.
 Rise in Social Networks & UGCs.
 Problems faced by news channels making it difficult for them to sustain
their existing Business Models.
I. Operational Costs much higher.
II. Carriage Fees & Placement Fees
III. Overdependence on Ad- Revenues.
IV. Low Subscription Revenues.

7. Penetration Rates of Devices:
94% of respondents owned or had
regular access to a Desktop/Laptop
 Penetration of TV comparatively
lower at 85%
 65% of the respondents owned a
smartphone and the tablet
penetration was around 16%.

8. Rank the following online modes of news consumption based on your preference (1-4).
Rank Rank Rating
Answer Options Rank 3 Rank 4
1 2 Average
News Websites 93 75 63 54 2.27
News Aggregating websites (Google, yahoo etc) 69 120 72 24 2.18
News aggregating mobile apps (pulse ,stumble upon etc) 33 48 63 141 3.09
Social Networks (Twitter , FB etc) 90 84 75 36 2.20
Respondents asked to rank the following modes/ sources of news over the
internet. Rank 1 : most preferred & Rank 4: Least preferred.
Following is the ranking in its order:
1. News Aggregating Websites(google,yahoo)
2. Social Networks (Twitter, FB etc)
3. News Websites
4. News Aggregating Mobile Apps(Pulse)

9. Following are the rankings of the various platforms based on their weighted averages:
1. Computer - 2.38 (most preferred)
2. Mobile - 2.55
3. TV - 2.56
4. Newspaper - 2.76
5. Tablets - 4.28 (least preferred)

10. The respondents owned a series of multipurpose devices, but how likely were they to use those devices
for News accessing? It was found that a majority of the respondents access news regularly on their
computers almost 64% , whereas almost 57% of them view the TV news or read newspapers regularly.
More than 35% users access News regularly on their smartphones & a little over 8% use their tablets
for news access.
This shows that with the increasingly fast paced life in the metros people are more comfortable
accessing news over the internet than watch their TVs, proves the reasons for low Time spends on
TV.

11. A B C D E
Ownership/ Use for news atleast Use for news Newsfulness Newsfulness
Access once a week everyday Weekly Daily
(%) (%) (%) (B/A) (C/A)
Computer
(desktop,laptop) 94.7 34.7 63.2 0.37 0.67
Smartphone 64.2 17.2 35.5 0.27 0.55
TV 84.2 37.9 56.8 0.45 0.67
Tablets 15.8 7.6 8.7 0.48 0.55
 The table illustrates that the TV & computer by far are the most Newsful
devices with almost 67% of the TG who own them use these on a daily basis for
accessing news or viewing news content.
 The table shows how frequently these devices are used for news access but the
this may not prove the efficiency of that platform as the Time spends on that
platform might be considerably low even though it is used frequesntly on a daily
basis. (ex. TV)

12.  Entertainment News tops with 81% as the TGs most preferred genre of
news. It is followed by Sports , international ,Business, Political &
Regional News @ 60%, 58%, 53.7%, 48% & 47%.
 This also shows that the Regional news is not very popular with this age
category. (Yet Regional news has grown @ 22% in 2011 since 2010).

13.  75% of the young adults (most likely + Very likely) believe convenience is important
when it comes to news consumption .
 For a majority of the young adults News isn‟t a strong driving content which would
lead them to specifically tune into a particular news channel for viewing it. Most of
them end up grazing news on the net because it is easily available , quick updates
straight to their system/ device. As far as Television is concerned they end up
viewing news mostly while surfing the channels

14. Electronic Devices Enjoyment level Traditional Platforms Enjoyment level
Among users(0-7) Among users (0-7)
Laptop 5.89 Print Newspaper 5.94
Desktop 5.19 Television 6.09
Smartphones 5.52
Tablets 5.46
Average 5.5 Average 6.01
Enjoyment Level : New Devices vs. Legacy Platforms
When asked how users evaluate different devices in terms of enjoyment and
how new devices fare in comparison with the legacy platforms (e.g., print
newspapers & TV) the following were the responses on a scale of 0-7 . The
Table illustrates the results as to which platform is more enjoyable .Among the
new devices, the laptop & Smartphones are the most enjoyable. The average
score for the new devices is 5.5, trailing behind the average (6.01) for legacy
platforms (i.e., print newspapers & TV).

15.  Not all Devices are Newsful
 News on newer platforms not yet a reality but the fact that digital media is taking
away a large chunk of the audience cant be neglected.
 Solution : Targeting the young adults ( 18-30) with tailored content & concentrating
on developing loyalty amongst them for the channel.
 Operational Efficiency: Need to rationalize the Carriage fees,
Placement fees.
 Redefining the Revenue market: Over dependence on the advertising
revenues(reducing that), Subscriptions, Tailor made content (niche) to
enable increased brand investments.