[ecrea] New research reports from Ofcom

Ofcom has today published two research reports on how people use, 
understand and relate to different media in the UK.

The first, Adults' Media Use and Attitudes, provides detailed insight 
into media use, attitudes and understanding among UK adults aged 16 and 
over. It covers TV, radio, mobile, games and the internet and can be 
found 
here<http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/other/research-publications/adults/media-lit-2016/>.

Findings include:


*         a considerable rise (10 percentage points over a year to 16%) 
in the proportion of adults who only use smartphones or tablets to go 
online, rather than a PC or laptop. This indicates that these devices 
are not just supplementing PCs and laptops, but are starting to replace 
them;


*         a sizeable increase (11 percentage points over a year to 42%) 
in the proportion of internet users who say they only use websites or 
apps that they've used before. This trend, which is particularly 
prominent in over 25s, points to a narrowing use of the internet, with 
people focusing on content and apps that they use regularly;


*         seven in ten adults now use a smartphone, the device most used 
for accessing social media and the preferred device for the majority of 
online activities. Mobile phones have become the media device people 
would miss most, overtaking the television set; and



*         half of adults (51%) that use search engines are not aware 
that the top items on many results pages are adverts or sponsored links, 
indicating there is a need for people to be more aware or savvy about 
the content they are accessing online.
The second report published today, UK Audience Attitudes towards 
Broadcast Media, explores adults' attitudes and opinions towards 
television and radio broadcasting, and related areas such as programme 
standards, advertising and regulation. The report can be found 
here<http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/other/tv-research/audience-attitudes-2016/>.

Findings include:


*         UK adults' opinion of the quality of television programmes has 
remained unchanged since 2014, with half of viewers (50%) feeling that 
the quality of programming has stayed the same;



*         nearly a third of adults (30%) feel that programme quality had 
worsened - again unchanged since 2014. The main reasons cited were more 
repeats (65%), lack of variety (38%), overall lack of quality (32%) and 
too many reality shows (28%);


*         levels of personal offence of TV programming have remained 
relatively low, at one fifth of adults. The top three types of content 
most likely to cause offence to viewers were sexual content (38%), 
violence (37%) and bad language (37%);


*         the most common reaction towards material considered offensive 
was to switch over to a different channel (50%). One in five (21%) 
reacted by switching off the TV completely, or by discussing it with 
others (22%), while 16% continued to watch; and



*         nine in ten adults are aware of the 9pm watershed and the 
majority (60%) still consider 9pm to be an acceptable time for 
programmes unsuitable for children to be broadcast.

:: Alison Preston
Head of Media Literacy Research
Consumer Group
:: Ofcom
Blackberry: 077 404 555 37
Email: (alison.preston /at/ ofcom.org.uk)<mailto:(alison.preston /at/ ofcom.org.uk)>


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