Great Tohoku Earthquake and Shift to Terrestrial Digital Broadcasting Result in Relatively Steady Media Contact Time; Significant Increase in Mobile Internet Access
～2012 Fixed-point Media Survey by Hakuhodo DY Media Partners’
Institute of Media Environment

Hakuhodo DY Media Partners’ Institute of Media Environment has completed its 2012 Fixed-point Media Survey, which analyzes how sei-katsu-sha are interacting with media. The research institute is headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo and headed by Hiroshi Yoshida.

According to survey data collected in the Tokyo area, the total amount of time that sei-katsu-sha spend in contact with the four traditional mass media outlets and two online media outlets (computers and mobile/smartphones) per day is five hours and fifty-one minutes, based on weekly averages. This figure has remained relatively steady since 2010, suggesting that daily media contact time has hit its saturation point in terms of the time available in people’s daily lives.

Recent trends in the data have seen internet contact time increase (both via computers and mobile/smartphones), but mobile phone online access in particular has jumped significantly to 40.4 minutes a day—up more than 230% from 2008. Past data showed that females aged 10–19 in particular tended to spend time online using their phones, but those figures have now increased across a broad spectrum that includes both men and women age 10 to 49. For males and females between 10 and 19, online access via phone has surpassed computer-based access.

As computer-based online access time shows signs of falling off slightly, survey results indicate an accelerated shift towards mobile devices, which has been triggered by the increasing popularity of smartphones.

Smartphone ownership doubled over the last year in the Tokyo area from 16.5% to 31.0%, and nearly tripled in Osaka—jumping from 8.7% to 26.8%. Ownership in Aichi and Kochi also showed a two-fold increase. In looking at different age and gender groups, around 60% of Tokyo men in their 20s and 30s and women in their 20s now own smartphones, as do more than half of the youngest male and female age groups.

As smartphones have increased in popularity, time spent interacting via social media has also increased. People in the Tokyo area now spend and average of 23.3 minutes a day using social media, and the number is particularly high for males and females between the ages of 10 and 30. In terms of region, social media usage is particularly high in the Tokyo area.

More social media users are also accessing these tools while watching TV or performing other activities, and it is predicted that the linkages between online and traditional media outlets will become increasingly critical as the popularity of smartphones continues to rise.

The Fixed-Point Media Survey seeks to understand exactly how sei-katsu-sha interact with media as it becomes increasingly digital, with new forms of hardware and services continually appearing on the scene. It has been conducted each year since 2004 with the aim of discovering emerging trends in the structure of the advertising media market. The Institute of Media Environment will continue to research changes in media conditions in order to identify clues that anticipate next-generation advertising, striving to boost its communication planning abilities and generate positive media outcomes.