(Via MediaLife)  (Thanks to Scott Jackson)

Surprising facts about media usage

We tend to think of Millennials as permanently attached to their smartphones.

We also tend to think of radio as a medium used mostly by older people, the ones who can’t quite figure out how to work an iPod.

Both those stereotypes are dead wrong, along with a lot of other ideas about media usage.



Nielsen’s most recent total audience report, a quarterly document that tracks media use by different age groups, shatters a number of misconceptions about new and old media use.

For example, it might surprise you to know that more Millennials listen to traditional AM/FM radio each week than use smartphones.

Nielsen found 93 percent of adults 18-34 listen to radio weekly, while just 80 percent report using a smartphone.

In fact, radio is the most frequently used medium among Millennials. It’s well ahead of TV at 76 percent and PCs at 49 percent.

Why the disparity between perceptions of Millennials and the reality?

Certainly one factor is the easy accessibility of radio.

It’s the medium that’s with us in the car and available at work and where we can quickly turn to get a weather update when a smartphone is not around.

Radio has been a part of people’s lives for so long it’s easy to take for granted. New technology has definitely become a staple of today’s media use, but it’s important to remember it’s not the only option young people turn to.

Here’s another surprise from the report: Slightly older adults are more frequent users of tablets than younger ones.

Nielsen found 49 percent of adults 35-49 use tablets each week, compared to 42 percent of Millennials.

And those 35-49s also slightly outpace Millennials in weekly smartphone use, too, at 81 percent to 80 percent.

Adults over 50 have reached a certain comfort level with technology, too. More of them use a PC each week than 18-34s, at 54 percent to 49 percent.

Overall the report found that radio has the greatest reach of all media among adults, with 93 percent saying they use it weekly, compared to 87 percent for TV.

Smartphones were used by 70 percent each week, with 37 percent saying they use smartphone video and 18 percent using smartphone audio.