Ofcom’s media consumption report – knowing and engaging your audience

1 September 2010
by Charlotte Stoel
Tags: communication online, engaging online communities, knowing and engaging your audience, media activity, media consumption, OFCOM report, PR tips

OFCOM’s report on media consumption caught my eye for many reasons, in particular the differences in media consumption between older and younger generations. Here are some key stats from the report:

Younger generation:
- Only 19% of 16-24s communicate via email (in sharp contrast to a survey by Beloit College in the US, which found that most ‘kids don’t like email’)
- 29% of their time on the web is spent communicating on social networks

Older generation:
- Half of over 55s consider emails the most important media activity
- A fifth, or 20%, use social networks

More than ever, engaging with your audience means two-way communication. While the over 55s tend to communicate in a more closed environment (i.e. personal email), younger generations are using open networks (for example, Twitter), where companies have the opportunity to engage with them directly.

Going back to an earlier post on brainstorming – knowing your audience and what they read is important, but also knowing where they spend their time online will help shape a successful campaign.