Introduction: As part of our project for the subject Media Economics and Management, we were told to do a survey of media

habit of fifty people. Reason or Background: In todays age, media holds a central role in marketing and propagation of ideas. So it is essential to know peoples media habits in order to use the media more efficiently to market products or ideas. Preferences differ according to demographic and psycho-graphic reasons. To understand their prospective clients better, business houses need accurate information about the media behavior of people, in other words, the pattern of media product consumption. What newspapers are being read, what channels are being watched, when and how long the media products are being consumed, every single detail matters in a big way. Objectives: The following are the objectives of the survey:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

To know what newspapers are read regularly To know what the favorite newspapers are and why To know the magazines read regularly To know the favorite magazines and why To know for how long the newspapers are read every day To know the most watched news channels, including reasons for watching To know the most watched sports channels, including reasons for watching To know the most watched GE or General Entertainment channels and the reasons for watching To know whether there is an INTERNET connection at home To know what websites are surfed regularly and why To know what radio channels are heard regularly and why

9. 10. 11.

Sample size: 50 Methodologies: Fifty people were surveyed, following a scientific methodology, that of the right hand rule. Besides, the population of 50 was divided into five different areas, with 10 people from each area. Starting from a point, the survey was carried out in households, keeping approximately equal number of men and women, using the right hand rule, in such a way that the end point coincided with the starting point. Commentary: Table 1: Newspapers read daily Name of Newspaper Anandabazar Patrika Bartaman Times of India Telegraph Ganashakti The Statesman The Hindu Economic Times Sunmarg Number of Readers 30 25 20 18 10 7 5 2 2 Percentage of Total (%) 60 50 40 36 20 14 10 4 4

The bar chart below of the table above shows that Anandabazar Patrika is the most read newspaper in a random sample of 50 people. Bartaman comes second. This indicates that our sample constituted mostly of Bengali people. The data suggests that a marketing campaign appearing in Anandabazar will have the

largest audience, Bengali, of course. Bar Chart 1:

Now let us further investigate if doing a marketing campaign through Anandabazar is enough to cover the Bengali newspaper reading audience, because Bartaman too is not far behind. For that, let us look at the following diagram. Pie chart 1: Anandabazar and Bartaman Comparison

This diagram shows that there are 16 common readers among 30 Anandabazar and 25 Bartaman readers. This means that even if a marketing campaign is appearing in Anandabazar, a sizeable portion of Bengali newspaper readers will be out of the reach, however, with a campaign on Anandabazar, the greater portion of Bartaman readers will be covered. It is also useful to know the economic and age profile of the readers because according to that, the papers will be chosen to market the products which are meant for people of those profiles. For example, the average age of the Anandabazar reader is around 30, and the average income group of the same is 10-29K. Table 2: Reasons for Reading Newspapers: Reason Habit Wide Variety of News Good Editorials Neutrality Frequency 25 20 15 12 Percentage 50 40 30 24

Local news Filmy News Political News

8 6 5

16 12 10

This table is significant because it shows why people are more drawn to one paper than another. Habit forms the chief reason for reading newspapers. This can mean several things. Usually habit means that a person is likely to stick to the newspapers he or she reads, because he or she reads them merely because those are a part of their daily routine and the person is of a nature which maintains the routine. The next major reason is a wide variety of news. This may mean that people prefer a variety of news. So, those newspapers which give a wide variety of news may be the ones most read. So from an advertisers point of view, those newspapers are preferable for putting their ads in. From the newspapers point of view, by incorporating a wide variety of news they may be able to get their readership up, which would mean more ad revenue. So the newspapers can showcase the fact that they offer a good variety of news in their own ads. The next are good editorials, neutrality, local news etc. in descending order. These are indicative of what people like to read in newspapers. This is particularly useful to newspaper houses because in order to increase their readership they would need to know what their readers like and in what proportion. Also, this may give clues as to what other kinds of niche publications may have a significant readership. Table 3: Magazines read every month: Name Saptahik Bartaman Frequency 15 Percentage 30

Desh Bhraman Sangi India Today Outlook

12 6 3 1

24 12 6 2

We see that magazines are read much less frequently, so clearly, for marketing of products for the masses newspapers are a better option than magazines. This however does not mean that magazines cannot be used in the marketing of products for the masses. Let us have a look at what correlates with magazine reading the best. Below is a line diagram showing the average number of magazines read by members of the four income group.

A clear correlation can be observed between the no. of magazines read and the economic status. This gives the advertiser a clue as to which members of economic status can be reached through magazines. So marketing through magazines can be a good strategy if the target consumers belong to a relatively wealthier class. Let us see what other correlations we find. Table 4: Duration of reading newspaper daily: Time Spent Reading 5 10 mins 11 20 mins 21 30 mins 31 40 mins Frequency 20 17 10 3 Percentage 40 34 20 6

For a media marketer, this may be indicative of which pages of the newspaper have the most readers. One obvious answer is the front page, so a front page ad

will be seen by the majority of the people. However, those who read the newspaper for longer than 11 minutes are likely to turn to other pages as well, so if an ad is placed inside, the marketing manager would be able to make a rough estimate of around how many people an ad has reached. Table 5: News Channels Watched Everyday: Channel ABP News 24 Ghanta Channel 10 NDTV Times Now Kolkata TV Akash Bangla Frequency 34 27 22 14 12 10 8 Percentage 68 54 44 28 24 20 16

This again shows that for news, the majority of the sample population turn to Bengali channels. ABP News being at the top should refresh our memory of Anandabazar Patrika being at the top, both belonging to the same group, viz. ABP. It should raise the question in our minds, why are the paper and the channel from the same group topping the lists? One common factor apart from the same group is that both are in Bengali. So we see, when it comes to news, people make certain region-specific choices. How do we reconcile this with the fact that only a few people have responded that local news is one of the reasons for their choice of favorite newspaper or choice? This is explained if we assume that most people here still like to hear and read news materials in their mother tongue. If that is true, then this should be noted by any media marketing person and must feature in their decision as to in what languages they would want to do the campaigning

under constraints. But we will see that it is not true for all categories such as entertainment in table 8, and we should try to figure out why that happens. It does not end here, though. There may also be cultural reasons for picking a local language paper or channel. So, cultural elements specific to the regions and closer to the thoughts and emotions of those people can be successfully used by a marketing campaigner. The presentation, use of language etc. of the top channels and papers is also another element that the marketing person should scrutinize. We will find confirmation of this in table 7. Table 6: Favorite News Channels: Name ABP News 24 Ghanta Channel 10 Times Now NDTV Frequency 24 22 15 8 6 Percentage 48 44 30 16 12

Here we see the same pattern; the most viewed channels are generally the hot favorites. This is a bit obvious, if people did not like those channels a lot, they would not have watched those so much. Table 7: Reasons for Favorite News Channel: Reason Unbiased Good presentation Frequency 18 18 Percentage 36 36

Variety of News Local news

14 13

28 26

Here we see that unbiasedness and good presentation come together as the top reasons. So as we have said earlier, presentation is something that a media analyst can never afford not to scrutinize. The unbiasness factor is another important factor to notice. Media marketing is by definition biased by the intention of promotion of a certain thing, unless that thing itself is unbiasness, but marketing people do not get paid to do that. So a marketing campaign may involve sources that are perceived as unbiased, and utilize them to the campaigns advantage. Table 8: GE channels watched daily: Channel Star Plus Zee Bangla Star Jalsha Sony Rupashi Bangla Sangeet Bangla Zee Cinema Frequency 32 29 26 23 22 18 18 Percentage 64 58 52 46 44 36 36

Here we see a deviation from our observed pattern so far. We see that a nonBengali channel tops the chart. So it is not always true that people pick a regional

language channel for all purposes. The difference here is that these are entertainment channels. We will investigate the patterns after we have seen the favorite channel table and the reasons why favorite table, the following two. Table 9: Favorite GE Channels: Channels Star Plus Zee Bangla Star Jalsha Sony Frequency 19 18 15 10 Percentage 38 36 30 20

The most viewed channels, once again, obviously, among the top favorites. Table 10: Reason why favorite (GE): Reason Serials Comedy Dance Programs Reality Shows Films Frequency 24 20 18 15 13 Percentage 48 40 36 30 26

Here we see that the top reason for liking a channel is serials. As a serial lasts for a long time, this means that for the top channels, the viewership is expected to last for quite a while, so those channels, with their prime time serials, are expected to remain good vehicles for marketing campaigns.

Oftentimes products are gender-specific, so let us have a check as to the watchers genders against the reasons why favorite. So we see, marketing campaigns targeting women audience are best done during serials and reality shows, while campaigns targeting men audience are best done during comedies and films. It also shows which have the most appeal to which gender groups. So the marketing material such as ads should be made keeping these choices in mind. For example, a comic ad may be more appealing to males and an ad featuring dance or dancers may draw female attention. Now we go back to the point of language. This feature here may be due to the reason that the popular Bengali channels are more recent than the popular Hindi channels. So habit may have played a part for people in choosing their favorite channels. Besides, if a person views a channel a lot, then he or she is exposed to more contents from that channel through advertisement of programs of that channel and less exposed to contents from other channels. Also, if we look at table 8, we will find that Zee Bangla is pretty close to Star Plus in viewership. So some Bengali channels have a good viewership. Another point is to notice here, Star Plus is a national channel. So naturally, the contents are designed keeping in mind the diversity among the audiences. So the contents are not tailor-made for the viewers of Calcutta. This suggests a uniformity of taste in certain things among the inhabitants of metro cities. So, if a product is doing well in a city, then, if the product is not specific to the citys specific needs and the marketing campaign does not involve anything particularly specific to the culture of that city, similar marketing campaigns may work in another city as well. Now we look at the sports channels and their viewership. Table 11: Sports Channels watched daily: Channel Ten Sports Frequency 23 Percentage 46

Star Sports ESPN

21 17

42 34

Table 12: Favorite Sports Channels: Channel Ten Sports Star Sports ESPN Frequency 19 17 15 Percentage 38 34 30

Table 13: Reasons why favorite (sport channels): Reason Cricket Variety Football Highlights Frequency 41 18 17 16 Percentage 82 36 34 32

The above tables are instructive in many ways. They point out the favorite sports channel and the reasons why people love the channel they love. So from here we have the favorite channel which can be used in media marketing. We also find, unsurprisingly, that cricket tops the list of reasons. So, cricket-related material and cricketers can be used to attract people in the marketing campaign. We also find that the reason variety comes second, so there are many people interested in a variety of sports. So varied sports content too can be used in order to get the interest of the viewers. Also, let us find out the gender profile of the sports watchers. The following bar

charts illustrate it well.

This clearly demonstrates that the sports channels are mostly watched by men. We also see that the majority of our male sample watch sports channels. So, male products are better advertised on sports channels than female products. Cricket, as it seems, has a mass appeal with a whopping total of 41 people going for cricket as the reason for watching sports channels. So during cricket matches, all types of campaigns will have a share of its target audience. Also, cricket personalities and materials can be used in all kinds of campaigns. This makes cricket a striking tool in the hands of the media manager. Table 14: FM Channels listened to regularly: FM Channel 98.3 93.5 Fever 104.5 Frequency 21 18 13 Percentage 42 36 26

We see that 98.3 FM is the most listened to channel. We also notice that quite a few people listen to FM. So, radio is still a place where you can put your message and people will listen. Other media have not been able to elbow this one out. For that we will have to look at the unique features of radio, such as it does not engage the eyes, so people can use it while driving, reading etc., its portability combined with extremely low cost. Table 15: Number of People having Internet at Home: Yes/No Yes Number 28 Percentage 56

No

22

44

We see that the majority have internet at home. Table 16: Sites Surfed regularly: Websites Google Yahoo Facebook Songs.pk Torrentz.com Frequency 26 25 23 18 8 Percentage 52 50 46 36 16

Table 17: Purpose of Using Internet: Purpose Searching for Information, News etc. Email Social Networking Matrimonial sites Ecommerce Frequency 25 Percentage 50

25 23 16 10

50 46 32 20

Here we see the preferred sites and reasons of using the net. Consistent with table 16, table 17 shows that most people search for information, news etc. on

the net. We also see that quite a lot of people use the net for email and social networking. Here we identify possible vehicles of marketing campaigns. Table 18: Age Age Group 10 19 20 29 30 39 40 49 50 59 60 - 69 Frequency 2 18 11 5 6 8 Percentage 4 36 22 10 12 16

Table 19: Occupation Profession Service Self employed Retired Housewife Frequency 18 17 6 9 Percentage 36 34 12 18

Table 20: Gender Gender Frequency Percentage

Male Female

24 26

48 52

Table 21: Education : Education Level Graduate School pass-out Post Graduate Frequency 31 14 5 Percentage 62 28 10

Table 22: Monthly Household Income: MHI Range Less than 10K 10K 29K 30K 49K 50K and above Frequency 13 17 12 8 Percentage

Table 23: Number of Newspapers read daily Number of Newspapers Read per Day Frequency Percentage

None One Two More than two

4 17 24 12

6 34 48 24

Conclusion: This is a small survey of media habits of people. Even though the number of people interviewed is quite small, we have still found that the data obtained are not too random, that is, we could see a good percentage among them favoring certain things. Keeping in mind that the survey will have its limitations because of the small number of people interviewed and other possible sample biases, I state the conclusions, while at the same time affirming that these conclusions may not be representative of the entire city of Kolkata. But that is the thing about surveys, when we cannot get the data of a huge number of people, we take a sample and draw conclusions based on the data on the sample. Also, in drawing conclusions about even the sample population, we have to go beyond what is obviously illustrated. We explore possible causes, and this opens up the possibility for errors. However, we take care that our conclusions are consistent with the reality. The majority of the sample population are Bengali, as illustrated by the majority responding that they read Anandabazar Patrika. Also we can safely say that there is a significant readership base for Bengali news. Again, if we look at news channel we will find that ABP Ananda has the most viewership. A possible reason for this may be that people find the presentation of Anandabazar and ABP more attractive than the rest, as good presentation ranks quite high among the reasons. Also people may perceive Anandabazar and ABP Ananda as unbiased, as appears on the tables. Other possible reasons may include that people like to have information in their own mother tongue; people have developed a habit of Anandabazar which they have carried over to the news channel. When we look at the TV channels, we see a different story. Most people prefer

Star Plus, which is a national channel. The Bengali channels are quite popular still, but Star Plus still dominates the market. We also see that most people like a channel because of the serials. The serials appear at specific times, have a story that continues to the next day, and are usually not longer than one hour. These qualities may very well be reasons why serials are popular. We can also see that video and audio content in Hindi has a good audience. As for sports channels, unsurprisingly, we find the great majority watch the channels because of cricket. This speaks of the huge public appeal that cricket has. As for magazines, we find that not many people subscribe to them, and among the most popularly read magazines we have Saptahik Bartaman. This is not a magazine on a particular field, like Bhraman is. We see a clear correlation between the number of magazines read and financial status. There are still quite a few people who listen to radio, and their most preferred channel is 98.3 FM. We can assume that this is due to the unique combination of features that radio has, namely it does not engage your eyes so you can listen to radios while cooking or driving, it is very low cost and portable etc. We find that the majority of our sample population surf the net and most of them do it for information, news etc. So internet is a source that people turn to for information, and it follows that by putting your information on the net you can get your information to the people. Many people use social networking as well, so social networking is becoming a strong communication tool. We still see that the majority of the internet users belong to the 20-29 age group, but there are significant percentages of people from older age groups too who are using the net.