Social media changes news industry
Social media such as Facebook and Twitter is changing the way people absorb news and is likely to become the main news source.
Deloitte’s 2016 Media Consumer Survey shows that television is still the primary source of news for Australians at 36 per cent.
But the survey of more than 2000 people found that social media was now the primary source of news for 18 per cent of respondents, making it second to news.
The survey becomes interesting when it’s broken down into age groups. According to the study, 31 per cent of millennials aged between 14 and 26 and 25 per cent of those aged between 27 and 32 rely on social media as their primary news source.
The number drops to 20 per cent for Generation X, 6 per cent for boomers and for those above 69, it sits at zero.
The key issue here is that millennials tend to be the early adopters of technologies such as smart phones, social media and subscription video services. Generation X and boomers tend to follow which suggests that social media could increasingly become the main news source.
The survey also found that 22 per cent of respondents had one of three subscription video on demand services – Netflix, Stan and Presto.
That was up from 12 per cent last year.
And again, that number was 30 per cent for millennials.
The survey found that 18 per cent had two subscription video on demand services and 64 felt they needed more than one.
by Leon Gettler, August 15th 2016
