世論 What Japan Thinks

Here’s a very interesting survey from Point On Research, reported on by japan.internet.com, into reading news on mobile phones.

Demographics

On the 10th of Novermber 2009 800 mobile phone users completed a mobile pone-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, 25.0% in their teens, 25.0% in their twenties, 25.0% in their thirties, and 25.0% in their forties.

I’ll add a caveat that as well as the survey being for mobile phone users only, these mobile-only surveys tend to favour heavy users rather than just the average mobile phone user, so there is a degree of bias here.

I can get headlines for free from my mobile phone, but I never find it worth the bother – on the way back home from work I can just peer at other people’s evening papers, and anyway I usually get home in time to see 10 or 15 minutes of news, so I can quite happily live without the latest headlines on my mobile.

Research results

From the sample 639 people, or 79.9% of the original 800, said they read news on their mobile phones. Note that the article explicitly says read rather than including viewing broadcast news on One Seg television, so I’m not sure if in actual fact that was covered. These 639 were asked the following.

Q1: About how often do you read news on your mobile phone? (Sample size=639)

Every day	61.0%
Once every two or three days	30.0%
Once a week	5.8%
Few times a month	2.7%
Once a month	0.3%
Less than that	0.2%

Q2: What genres of news do you read? (Sample size=639, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
News flash, top news stories	585	91.5%
Entertainment	389	60.9%
Domestic	372	58.2%
Sport	246	38.5%
Financial	155	24.3%
Overseas	125	19.6%
Regional	102	16.0%
IT, computer	83	13.0%
Science	42	6.6%

Q3: What is the main reason why you read news on your mobile phone? (Sample size=639)

Can view anywhere	36.2%
Very fresh information	12.2%
Contents are concise	2.2%
Can get information in free time	28.0%
Just to fill time	15.6%
No particular reason	4.5%
Other	1.3%

Q4: Do you read a physical newspaper, have a subscription, etc? (Sample size=639)

Yes	48.4%
Used to, but not now	16.7%
No, never	34.9%