Television remains our primary medium, according to new McKinsey research (via Center for Media Research). Forty-five percent of those surveyed use television as their primary news medium – a fact that simply isn’t that surprising.

What does strike us as a bit, well, counterintuitive, are some of the reasons why survey respondents rely on television as their primary medium to get news and information.

Rationale for Choice of Primary Platform (% of respondents, multiple response OK)

56% say that they determined their “primary” medium because it is the “easiest way to get news.”

44% say that their primary medium covers the most topics.

39% say that is has the most up-to-date-info.

38% say that it allows them to multitask.

19% say that it is the most in-depth.

We like all of these options – ease of use, comprehensiveness, ability to multitask – but in our day-to-day life at the Institute, we tend to associate these terms with news and information on the Internet, not television.

The survey also contains an interesting look at three different types of news consumers: citizen readers, news lovers, and “digital cynics. Further results are available on the Center for Media Research site.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 15th, 2007 at 9:52 am and is filed under Media Habits, Research. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.