Print medium is not about to die

Stuart Corner
Monday, 17 December 2007 09:29

IT Industry - Market

Those who've said the print medium is dead or dying need a rethink, according to a Deloitte survey of American consumers. Deloitte questioned 2200 American consumers between 13 and 75 years of age about their use of media and technology now, and about what they want in the future. It has published the highlights in a white paper "The future of media - profiting from generational differences."

Lead partner of the Deloitte Technology Media and Telecommunications industry group in Australia, Damien Tampling, said the study shows that nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of respondents prefer a printed version of a magazine even when they can get the same information online. And he noted that, in Australia, the preference for printed media is similar if not stronger as shown by a recent Australian Press Council Report, "State of the News Print Media in Australia 2007".

"This study has verified what many savvy marketers have suspected: people across all generations are using multiple channels – traditional and online media - to source the information they want or need," he claimed. "The behavioural study also dispelled forever the furphy that [older] people (61-75 years) were reluctant to embrace technology. Of those participating in Web 2.0 user generated content and entertainment, 25 percent were...aged 61-75."

However there is one popular aspect of online media that print cannot hope to compete with: user-generated content. According to the survey it is mounting stiff competition to  industry-created content. "User-generated content is in tremendous demand across the generations, with half of all consumers (51 percent) watching and/or reading content created by others."

Furthermore, its popularity is not confined to the younger generations. "While Generation Y are at the forefront of this trend, Xers, Boomers and Matures are also participating. 51 percent of all consumers are watching/reading personal content created by others; the number jumps to 71 percent for Generation Y. 55 percent of Generation Y and 42 percent of Xers read blogs, while 62 percent of Generation Y and 41 percent of Xers watch YouTube or other video streaming sites. 40 percent of all consumers are creating their own entertainment, such as editing movies, music and photos."

Generation Y may be the majority of the creators at 56 percent, but Matures are also participating – 25 percent of them report creating their own entertainment.

If the survey is to be believed those pundits who predict that print will die through starvation as advertising revenue shifts to the Internet could also be proved wrong. "When it comes to advertising, print prevails over the Internet. In fact, more than one in four consumers (28 percent) would pay for online content to avoid ad exposure," Deloitte says. "And, if you want to drive traffic to your site, search engines and word of mouth are most effective...76 percent of all consumers find Internet ads more intrusive than print ads, and 64 percent pay more attention to print ads than those online."

According to the CEO of Eclipse, Deloitte's online advisory arm, Stuart Johnston, "All organisations need to ensure they have an integrated marketing strategy...Online today is very much part of the overall marketing and communications toolkit...All channels used need to have a consistent look and feel whether it is online, in store or television or ambient (stickers, posters) advertising. This is a big change from 2001, when online was an isolated channel that was not integrated into the overall mix."