Here’s a thing. Everybody apart from maybe your Gran should know what’s in the Ofcom Communications Market Report.
Everybody who is interested in communicating as part of their jobs should know it.
Press officers, comms people, social media mavens, marketing people and internal comms too. You all should know it.
Why? Because quite simply, this is a report filled with data that you can hang your hat on and use as a reference point for what you do. Cricket has Wisden. Comms people have the Communications Market Report. It’s that good.
If you are a communicator in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland there’s also a national breakdown of your nation’s media use too. How useful is that?
So, here is a quick summary so you all go off and read all of its 266 glorious pages.
Internet connectivity
4G now reaches 97.8 per cent of the population.
86 per cent of homes have an internet connection.
66 per cent of people use their mobile phone to access the internet.
41 per cent think they spend too much time on the internet.
11 per cent check the internet 50 times a day or more.
15 per cent say they are ‘hooked’ on theiir favouriote device.
34 per cent say they have difficulty disconnecting from the internet.
51 per cent go to bed with their mobile phone within reach.
Smartphone Britain
71 per cent of adults have a smartphone.
Over two hours a day on average is spent using smartphones.
59 per cent of households have a tablet.
Video
26 per cent use video on demand sites like Netflix.
91 per cent watch live TV.
25 per cent watch online video clips
70 per cent use email.
Instant messaging is rising
43 per cent use instant messaging apps like WhatsApp
63 per cent send SMS texts.
21 per cent use photo messaging
The Digital Day
An adult will consume the media for eight hours 45 minutes a day – 27 minutes more than sleeping.
An adult will be second screening for two hours and seven minutes a day to consume extra media.
SMS text messaging and email are dropping.
Instant messaging is increasing.
The Digital Day: Activity and time spent
Live TV 2 hours 55 minutes Live TV
Live Radio 1 hour 54 minutes
Recorded TV 1 hour 12 minutes
Video games 1 hour 9 minutes
Paid on demand video 1 hour 2 minutes
Email 1 hour
Other websites or applications 55 minutes
Instant messaging 48 minutes
Social networking 45 minutes
Streamed music 44 minutes
Books (print and digital ) 44 minutes
Personal digital audio 39 minutes
DVD and Bluray 37 minutes
Newspapers print and web 31 minutes
Short online video 29 minutes
Phone calls 27 minutes
CD and vinyl 26 minutes
Sports news and updates 25 minutes
On demand radio 24 minutes
Texting 21 minutes
Video calls 16 minutes
Other online news 14 minutes
Magazines print or digital 13 minutes
Online shopping 12 minutes
Photo or video messaging 9 minutes
Other activities 1 hour 16 minutes
How much media we consume
People consume eight hours and 45 minutes media a day.
The majority of those under 65 use social media at least weekly.
50 per cent of time on social media is spent on a phone.
Those aged four and above watch three hours and 36 minutes watching TV.
Those who listen to the radio listen to three hours and three minutes a day.
19 per cent of media is consumed while multi-tasking.
40 per cent fceel ignored at least once a week by someone engrossed in a smartphone.
34 per cent say they had taken a digital detox.
16 per cent choose a holiday dfestination that has no internet.
Popular social media and instant messaging sites
In 2016 64 per cent of adults use social media
The popular sites by users
38.9 million Facebook
22.5 million Facebook Messenger
21. 8 million LinkedIn
20.9 million Twitter
16.7 million whatsapp
16.5 million Instagram
12.8 Google +
11.5 million Pinterest
7.1 million Snapchat
Teenagers
15 per cent said that they were most likely to keep in touch with friends through social media.
69 per cent said that if they could not access the internet their life would be boring.
49 per cent said that they have communicated with someone who was in the same room by using the internet.
60 per cent think its unacceptable to communicate using the internet with someone who is in the same lesson.
61 per cent have had a device taken off them as a punishment.
16 to 24 year-olds
99 per cent use social media weekly spending 2 hours 26 minutes.
They spend more of their time communicating (32 per cent) than watching 29 petr cent.
Instant messaging is more important than any other means of communication.
Playing video games is as important as watching live TV.
The smartphone is used five hours a day.
87 per cent said they kept up to date with current affairs or social issues
Watch 55 minutes less TV a week than they did since 2014.
Watch 43 minutes more on demand TV than they did in 2014.
25 per cent say they feel nervous or anxious without the internet.
60 per cent say they spend too much time online.
72 per cent say that they missed out on sleep to use the internet.
25 – 35-year-olds
84 per cent use social media spen ding 1 hour 1 minute
Watching live TV has dropped by 37 minutes.
35 – 44-year-olds
77 per cent use social media spending 1 hour a day.
45 – 54-year-olds
64 per cent use social media spending 1 hour a day..
Watching live TV has dropped by 37 minutes
55 – 64-year-olds
Listening to the radio has increased by 23 minutes spending on average 58 minutes.
65+
24 per cent use social media spending 35 minutes on average.
Picture credit: US National Archives / Flickr
A really useful breakdown – thank you!
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