Media Moves into the Personal Space

Michael Hedges May 30, 2005

Research in Spain and France show mobile phones and personal MP3 players on the rise. Broad-band, too. Other media: not so good.

There are only so many media hours in a day, so conventional wisdom holds. Time with the internet means time away from newspapers and TV, not to forget sleeping and eating.

While we might watch TV, read the newspaper or listen to the radio while eating, using the internet at dinner is a bit less practical.

Conventional wisdom holds that internet usage replaces other media, newspapers and TV in particular. Time spent with media can only rise to something a bit less than 24 hours per day.

First quarter results from Spain’s EGM media survey, even by its headline, report “little significant movement” among audiences and readers. OK, so daily newspapers showed a little increase, as did radio. TV viewing showed a miniscule decrease.

Radio listening, as an integrated activity, doesn’t necessarily suffer internet blues. The EGM survey does not relate more internet usage with less TV. Nor does it suggest that Spain’s daily newspaper readers might be reading on-line. But it is possible.

The radio audience increased over the previous quarter, to 55.3% from 54.5%. However, that’s significantly lower than the 60.4% penetration in the 1st quarter 2004, which report considered an anomaly.

Convergence, once a dream, then a nightmare, is now at full-throttle. People can watch TV on their mobile phone, store a radio program on an iPod to hear it later. Or they can create a personal audiovisual program for that personal media device, offer it on the internet or send it off by satellite. We’re all media now, and all the time.

Daily internet usage tacked up, to 19% from 17.4% in the previous quarter. Those using the internet over a 30 day period increased to 33.6% from 32.9%. Not a huge jump.

Internet World Stats reported Portugal’s internet penetration at 34.4%, Spain at 33.6% (same as AIMC), Italy at 42% and France at 44%. That’s compared with 65% of more in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland. Broad-band households in Europe increased 65% in 2004.

And in Spain, reports AIMC (Asociacion para la Investigacion de Medios de Communicacion), which conducts the EGM, mobile telephones are now more prolific than fixed-line telephones; 79.5% of the population has a mobile phone compared with 78.7% with fixed-line phones. Mobile phone exclusivity, now 19.1%, has risen steadily, exceeding fixed-line exclusivity, now 18.3%.

A Médiamétrie/GfK study of multi-media devices in France, released May 23rd, shows MP3 players in 9.9% of French households, up from less than 25 in 2003. By contrast, household penetration by flat screen TVs and DVD players is, well, flat. Nearly a million French households, mostly young and upper income, now have all the toys: a digital camera, a mobile phone, broad-band internet access, DVD player and a portable MP3 player.

Those battling for consumer’s ears and eyes, media producers and advertisers, focus on three distinct venues. Living rooms – or where ever the biggest screen rests – have been the television’s domain. Attempts to attach the personal computer (PC) to the TV have largely failed, though broad-band internet and different set-top boxes may change that dynamic. For now, the PC is assigned to a different room, literally and figuratively.

Radio has long claimed the automobile. It’s difficult to watch TV or read the newspaper while driving, and driving alone is still the norm. The outdoor ad people are also claiming some exclusivity over automobile drivers and passengers. Ears may go to audio sources, now including personal audio devices, but eyes scan the billboards, in case they miss the stop signs.

Mobile phones are the new medium of choice for distributing all sorts of content, for fee. The personal space venue – from mobile phones to iPods – excites content producers because, as much as anything, it’s the new bright, shiny object. Interactivity, real or imagined, is nice but the personal venue devices are better than those in a room or in an automobile. They are, in fact, in your hand.