世論 What Japan Thinks

Central Research Services Inc recently reported on a survey into media consumption in 2005. The survey itself was conducted back in October 2005, and although detailed demographics are not available, the sample was randomly selected from residents up and down the country aged between 15 and 69, and conducted by means of face-to-face interviews. The response rate was 57.4%, giving a raw sample size of 3,443 people.

I don’t think this survey teaches us much that intuition suggests to be true, but it’s always interesting to get these hunches backed up by raw data. However, although almost three-quarters read a paper every day, how much they actually read versus just headline skimming is another question that hasn’t been asked here.

Q3 is a rather weird question – perhaps it’s to see if people start with the news or the sports. The tabloids have sports on the back page, but the broadsheets usually have the television listings, then the sports from the second-last page, so I don’t know how that affected the answers.

Q1: How many days per week do you read a newspaper? (Sample size=3,169)

Every day	73.9%
Five or six days per week	8.1%
Three or four days per week	8.5%
One or two days per week	6.1%
Less than that	3.4%

Q2: For how long have you been reading newspapers? (Sample size=3,068)

15 years or more	56.2%
10 years or more	10.3%
Three years or more	13.6%
One year or more	8.1%
Less than a year	6.4%
Don’t know	5.5%

Q3: Where do you start reading the paper from? (Sample size=3,184)

Front page	48.6%
Back page	32.6%
Neither front nor back, but other fixed start page	4.6%
Other	1.4%
No particular preference, from whereever	12.4%
No answer	0.3%

Q4: In the last year, has your time spent on the following activities increased or decreased? (Sample size=3,443)

	Increased	Decreased
Newspaper reading	21.8%	15.2%
Watching NHK terrestrial channels	13.7%	21.1%
Watching other terrestrial channels	12.7%	22.3%
Watching NHK satellite channels	10.7%	8.4%
Watching BS Digital channels	4.9%	4.3%
Watching other BS channels (WOWOW, etc)	1.6%	3.4%
Watching CS Digital channels	1.3%	2.5%
Watching other CS channels	1.8%	3.6%
Watching cable television	6.0%	5.5%
Recording television programs	16.2%	23.1%
Watching DVD, video or other recorded media	18.2%	23.4%
Reading magazines	12.4%	30.3%
Reading books	16.3%	29.0%
Using the internet	28.0%	8.9%
Using mobile phone	30.1%	9.9%
Reading advertising leaflets included with newspapers	12.2%	18.6%
Chances of viewing in-train, in-bus, etc, advertising	8.1%	24.8%

Q5: Do you agree with the following statements for various advertising types? (Sample size=3,443, multiple answer)

	Newspaper ads	Television ads	Radio ads	Magazine ads	Internet ads
Can trust information	52.2%	40.9%	9.7%	7.3%	6.7%
Passes on industry’s attitude or way of thinking	41.5%	34.6%	4.9%	12.3%	15.2%
Details are balanced and correct	41.1%	23.0%	4.6%	7.0%	8.9%
Required information is up to date and can be confirmed	32.9%	12.3%	1.5%	17.7%	34.7%
Often pay attention when viewing	32.0%	29.6%	1.7%	12.4%	11.4%
Lots of useful advertising	29.7%	22.6%	2.3%	13.5%	14.3%
Delivers easy-to-understand information	27.3%	51.0%	5.4%	14.0%	17.3%
Can learn about new goods and services	27.0%	59.8%	6.7%	18.0%	25.2%
Can learn detailed information about goods and services	25.4%	24.4%	2.2%	21.2%	28.6%
Delivers product features in an ordered fashion	23.6%	42.0%	7.5%	12.8%	14.1%
Has most of the information I need to know	20.5%	17.4%	1.7%	14.5%	35.3%
Can compare with other goods and services	18.3%	19.6%	1.5%	16.0%	25.7%
Many advertisements leave an impression	15.7%	63.9%	5.0%	10.3%	5.1%
Many advertisements feel familiar	14.6%	52.3%	6.0%	11.3%	5.8%
Convenient for access to home pages	11.3%	6.6%	0.8%	11.7%	52.6%
Lots of enjoyable advertisements	7.5%	62.9%	4.9%	12.3%	8.9%

Q6: Have you ever confirmed details from an advertisement in one media with advertisements in another media? (Sample size=3,443)

Yes	59.0%
No	41.0%

The survey finished by examined cross-media advertising in all its gory detail, but I’ll omit the translation of that portion.