世論 What Japan Thinks

A recent detailed survey report from goo Research was their third six-monthly look at the media usage situation.

Demographics

Between the 25th and 30th of May 2011 1,499 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 16.5% in their teens, 18.2% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties, 16.1% in their forties, 15.6% in their fifties, and 12.1% aged sixty or older.

I use both TV and PC internet every day, both for longer than I’d like to admit to!

Research results

Q1: How often per week do you use the following kinds of media? (Sample size=1,499)

Television

Every day	88.0%
Six days a week	2.3%
Five days a week	1.5%
Four days a week	1.4%
Three days a week	1.5%
Two days a week	0.9%
One day a week	1.3%
Less than that	1.5%
Never	1.5%

Newspapers

Every day	54.5%
Six days a week	1.4%
Five days a week	2.9%
Four days a week	1.5%
Three days a week	2.9%
Two days a week	2.1%
One day a week	3.5%
Less than that	8.0%
Never	23.2%

Radio

Every day	13.9%
Six days a week	2.0%
Five days a week	4.7%
Four days a week	2.1%
Three days a week	3.5%
Two days a week	4.4%
One day a week	6.6%
Less than that	19.1%
Never	4.6%

Magazines

Every day	4.5%
Six days a week	0.9%
Five days a week	1.8%
Four days a week	1.6%
Three days a week	4.7%
Two days a week	7.3%
One day a week	15.4%
Less than that	38.8%
Never	25.0%

PC internet

Every day	83.3%
Six days a week	3.9%
Five days a week	4.3%
Four days a week	2.3%
Three days a week	1.9%
Two days a week	1.3%
One day a week	0.6%
Less than that	1.0%
Never	1.5%

Mobile phone internet

Every day	29.0%
Six days a week	1.5%
Five days a week	2.1%
Four days a week	0.9%
Three days a week	3.9%
Two days a week	2.4%
One day a week	3.8%
Less than that	14.4%
Never	42.0%

Smartphone internet

Every day	10.8%
Six days a week	0.6%
Five days a week	0.8%
Four days a week	0.3%
Three days a week	0.9%
Two days a week	0.5%
One day a week	0.5%
Less than that	0.8%
Never	84.9%

Tablet computer internet

Every day	2.1%
Six days a week	0.3%
Five days a week	0.3%
Four days a week	0.2%
Three days a week	0.2%
Two days a week	0.3%
One day a week	0.5%
Less than that	1.0%
Never	95.2%

Q2: How long per day do you use the following kinds of media? (Sample size=1,499)

Television

Less than 10 minutes	2.3%
Less than 20 minutes	0.5%
Less than 30 minutes	3.3%
Less than 1 hour	12.9%
Less than 2 hours	23.7%
Less than 3 hours	21.6%
Less than 4 hours	13.3%
Less than 5 hours	11.1%
Less than 8 hours	6.9%
Less than 10 hours	1.0%
10 hours or more	1.8%
Never	1.5%

Newspapers

Less than 10 minutes	20.9%
Less than 20 minutes	14.7%
Less than 30 minutes	21.9%
Less than 1 hour	15.5%
Less than 2 hours	2.9%
Less than 3 hours	0.5%
Less than 4 hours	0.0%
Less than 5 hours	0.1%
Less than 8 hours	0.0%
Less than 10 hours	0.1%
10 hours or more	0.0%
Never	23.2%

Radio

Less than 10 minutes	18.5%
Less than 20 minutes	5.8%
Less than 30 minutes	8.6%
Less than 1 hour	10.1%
Less than 2 hours	5.3%
Less than 3 hours	2.4%
Less than 4 hours	2.0%
Less than 5 hours	1.5%
Less than 8 hours	1.5%
Less than 10 hours	0.4%
10 hours or more	0.3%
Never	43.6%

Magazines

Less than 10 minutes	30.0%
Less than 20 minutes	11.0%
Less than 30 minutes	16.4%
Less than 1 hour	14.3%
Less than 2 hours	2.5%
Less than 3 hours	0.5%
Less than 4 hours	0.1%
Less than 5 hours	0.0%
Less than 8 hours	0.1%
Less than 10 hours	0.1%
10 hours or more	0.0%
Never	25.0%

PC internet

Less than 10 minutes	2.1%
Less than 20 minutes	1.4%
Less than 30 minutes	5.9%
Less than 1 hour	17.6%
Less than 2 hours	25.7%
Less than 3 hours	18.5%
Less than 4 hours	9.5%
Less than 5 hours	10.0%
Less than 8 hours	4.7%
Less than 10 hours	1.2%
10 hours or more	1.8%
Never	1.5%

Mobile phone internet

Less than 10 minutes	21.4%
Less than 20 minutes	7.0%
Less than 30 minutes	6.9%
Less than 1 hour	9.5%
Less than 2 hours	7.1%
Less than 3 hours	3.0%
Less than 4 hours	1.1%
Less than 5 hours	1.3%
Less than 8 hours	0.3%
Less than 10 hours	0.3%
10 hours or more	0.2%
Never	42.0%

Smartphone internet

Less than 10 minutes	2.3%
Less than 20 minutes	0.8%
Less than 30 minutes	2.7%
Less than 1 hour	4.3%
Less than 2 hours	2.9%
Less than 3 hours	1.1%
Less than 4 hours	0.6%
Less than 5 hours	0.3%
Less than 8 hours	0.1%
Less than 10 hours	0.1%
10 hours or more	0.0%
Never	84.9%

Tablet computer internet

Less than 10 minutes	1.1%
Less than 20 minutes	0.7%
Less than 30 minutes	0.9%
Less than 1 hour	0.9%
Less than 2 hours	0.7%
Less than 3 hours	0.2%
Less than 4 hours	0.1%
Less than 5 hours	0.0%
Less than 8 hours	0.1%
Less than 10 hours	0.1%
10 hours or more	0.0%
Never	95.2%

Looking at the trends over the eighteen months that this survey has been conducted, the only noticeable change has been an almost 6 percentage point drop from six months ago of the number of people spending at least an hour per day on PC-based internet; however, there was not a corresponding increase in access via other methods, only a two percentage point increase, but the discrepency could be explained by sampling errors. A further graph seems to imply that it is people in their thirties and forties that have been spending less time on the computer-based internet. Furthermore, the same age group, in particular those in their thirties, have been spending more time on the internet from their mobile phones and smartphones.

Q3: On average, what do you spend the most time using on the internet? (Sample size=1,499)

PC internet

Rank	Activity, service	Percentage	Previous rank
1	Online shopping	15.4%	2
2	Personal blogs	13.6%	1
3	Video viewing, download	12.5%	3
4	Video sharing services (YouTube, Nico-nico Douga, etc)	10.4%	4
5	Encyclopedia (Wikipedia, etc)	5.6%	5

Mobile phone internet

Rank	Activity, service	Percentage	Previous rank
1	SNS community (mixi, Facebook, etc)	19.8%	1
2	Personal blogs	16.0%	2
3	Microblogs (Twitter, etc)	9.2%	4
4	Music listening, music download	7.7%	3
5	Online shopping	7.2%	5

Smartphone internet

Rank	Activity, service	Percentage	Previous rank
1	Microblogs (Twitter, etc)	13.8%	2
2=	Personal blogs	10.7%	4
2=	SNS community (mixi, Facebook, etc)	10.7%	3
4	Bulletin board, chat (2 Channel, Yahoo! BBS, etc)	8.7%	5
5=	Video sharing services (YouTube, Nico-nico Douga, etc)	8.2%	9
5=	Online shopping	8.2%	6
5=	Movie viewing, download	8.2%	1

Tablet internet

Rank	Activity, service	Percentage	Previous rank
1	Video sharing services (YouTube, Nico-nico Douga, etc)	25.0%	1
2	Microblogs (Twitter, etc)	12.5%	6
3	Online shopping	10.7%	2
4	Bulletin board, chat (2 Channel, Yahoo! BBS, etc)	8.9%	4
5	Movie viewing, download	7.1%	5

Looking at the above data by the thirties and forties demographics of each sex, on computers women spent most time shopping, while men were either viewing or downloading videos (thirties) or visiting personal blogs (forties).

For mobile phones, men and women in their thirties were on SNSs while men in their forties were banking and women in their forties were visiting blogs.

For smartphones, men in their thirties were either watching or downloading videos or on BBS while women in their thirties were on SNSs. Both men and women in their forties spend most of their time tweeting.

Q4: Which of the following kinds of social media do you use, from where and how? (Sample size=1,499)

	PC reading	PC writing	Mobile reading	Mobile writing	Smartphone reading	Smartphone writing
Personal blogs	57.8%	23.6%	29.4%	12.8%	43.2%	17.6%
Q&A sites	63.4%	10.9%	17.5%	3.9%	28.6%	7.5%
Twitter, etc	27.1%	16.0%	17.5%	12.5%	40.1%	27.3%
SNS	30.7%	18.6%	24.8%	17.4%	36.1%	23.8%

In an even more detailed breakdown by sex and age, both men and women aged forty or more were far less likely to both read and write on SNSs than those under forty; the gap was twenty percentage or more in most cases.

Q5: Which of the following kinds of media would you most like to use more of (or most like to start using)? (Sample size=1,499)

PC internet	26.1%
Smartphone internet	10.5%
Television	6.8%
Newspapers	5.9%
Radio	3.1%
Tablet internet	3.8%
Mobile phone internet	2.8%
Magazines	2.4%
Other	0.3%
None in particular	38.3%

Q6: Which of the following kinds of media is the most essential for your lifestyle? (Sample size=1,499)

PC internet	52.4%
Television	31.2%
Mobile phone internet	4.9%
Smartphone internet	4.2%
Radio	3.1%
Newspapers	2.4%
Tablet internet	0.7%
Magazines	0.2%
Other	0.0%
None in particular	0.9%

Since the same question was asked six months ago, television has gained about four percentage points whilst the PC internet has lost about 6.5 points. Smarphone internet has doubled, but it is starting from a much lower base. I wonder if the coverage of the earthquake and tsunami on television has had anything to do with these trends?