Another study shows: Traditional media increasingly the preserve of the old

Nov 1, 2010 by Dirk Singer

This is a point that’s been made countless times, for example by Ofcom in the UK and Pew Research in the US – people who regularly consume traditional media are older, often 55+.

Harris Interactive (via Marketing Charts) carried out research for the Wall Street Journal about US media consumption habits. Two stats that could be contradictory: 67% said “I prefer to get my news in more traditional ways”, while 50% said “I tend to get almost all my news online.”

However, I guess the key word is ‘prefer.’ Consumers may want their news from a newspaper or TV programme, but often they’ve switched into a routine which means that’s not actually happening.

And the key differences by age? 81% of the over 55s prefer to get their news via traditional media compared to 57% of the under 35s. And while only a third (that many?) of the over 55s get their regular news diet online, for the under 35s that jumps to 65%.