Young people deserting conventional TV

By Yoon Ja-young

Television has been the best option to pass time for many but it seems to be giving way to smartphones. Young people are especially deserting conventional TV to spend more time on their handsets.

According to a survey by the Korea Communications Commission, around 60 percent of Koreans chose TV as the most essential medium, followed by the Internet with 33 percent. Those who chose newspapers stood at 2 percent, books 2 percent and radio 1 percent.

The survey showed that females, the elderly, those on a low-income and with manufacturing jobs and housewives are more inclined to watch TV while the Internet was preferred by males, young people, high-earners, students and office workers.

New mediums such as the Internet, digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB), and Internet protocol television (IPTV) are eating into the TV market, with 21 percent of respondents saying that new media forms have made them watch less television than before. By age, those in their 20s are mostly shunning conventional TV, with 39.7 percent saying that they aren’t watching as much as in the past. Teenagers and those in their 30s were also spending less time in front of the box while only 2 percent of those in their 60s or over said they are watching less than before.

Smartphone users were especially likely to spend less time in front of the TV as 37.2 percent said they now watch less, while this applied to only 15 percent of those without smartphones.

“As people now have varied media choices according to time and location, individuals seem to show diverse patterns. It will affect not only consumption of media content but also people’s lifestyle,” a representative for the commission said.

Even when people watch TV, they are increasingly viewing through the Internet, with one in four doing so. Among those in their 20s, the ratio stood at 42.3 percent, followed by teenagers at 34.3 percent.

According to the survey, people switched to smartphones mostly to use diverse applications. When asked what they consider when choosing a handset, 44.5 percent picked the brand, while 31 percent chose the mobile carrier. The operating system mattered for one out of four people, and 22.9 percent considered design and size.

When asked why they aren’t switching to smartphones, nearly half of the non-smartphone users answered that they don’t need them, while 17.6 percent cited the cost.