Jan Drijvers

The objective of the research was to study the aspects of newspapers which are not yet covered by the CIM surveys.

Common goals for conducting the survey:

• to calculate the combined reach of newspapers, their magazines / supplements and websites
• to translate these figure into indices useful for crossmedia planning
• to maintain the structure of the universe and the reach from the CIM print survey for printed versions of the dailies and magazines

The objectives, from the individual perspectives were:

• to compare the image of different media online and in paper
• to compare the reach of week and weekend editions
• to monitor ther use of new digital platforms

The survey interviewed Belgian population of 15 years+ The findings of the survey were:

• websites offer a substantial additional reach to the newspaper reach
• additional reach of websites is higher for Dutch quality titles
• websites of French regional titles offer less additional reach compared to sites of both popular and quality titles
• on average magazines and websites offer an additional reach of respectively 30% (dutch titles) and 20% (french titles)
• newspaper sites appeal to their existing print readership but they also attract a new audience to the title
• dutch magazines attract more female readers, whereas websites are read mostly by men

The conclusions of the Belgian survey were:

• Increasing reach of websites provides additional reach rather than cannibalisation
• 3 out of 10 who visit an online newspaper, read the same newspaper that day. 6 out of 10 read any newspaper given
• The incremental reach of online is higher in the North and for quality papers
• While building on a solid foundation of newspaper readers, newspaper websites are attracting a younger, more affluent, and more active consumer, while their magazines attract a more female readership.

New devices like iPads seem to be much easier for the elder generation to understand and to use.

It’s an opinion based on my observations of individual users. I admit there is a lack of hard and scientifical evidence about it. Early Nielsen research done in the US suggests iPads and other devices are bought first by early adopters who tend to be young (63 % of iPad buyers are aged 35 and younger). But it is a nascent market, premium priced at the moment — many things will change when the market matures, number of devices become available and prices fall. Obviously, more research is needed.

I do believe iPads and similar devices have some killer features making them attractive for elder people:

• Intuitive touch-based interface: so no more intimidation when the young try to teach you the new technology, no more problems with operating the mouse and finding cursor on-screen.
• Simplified operating system and apps: no more fear that pressing anything is going to corrupt the device or data, no more features regular guys don’t need and that make the whole experience complicated.
• Concept of apps: this world of ”one click = one feature” seems to be somewhat more familiar to their world of brands/utilities they trust and look for.
• Media consumption patterns: according to our research old users tend to be rather consumers of media than producers. iPad and similar devices — more easy than flexible – are simply more suitable to their needs.

These new devices may diminish the most important barriers for the growth of the Internet usage.

Until today in all European Union countries the Internet has been adopted more by the young than by the old. Some Eurostat data: among people aged 18-29 almost 100 % use the Internet. among people aged 55-64 do it only 48 %. Among people aged 65 and older the Internet is used only by 25 %. In my Poland the difference is even bigger: compare 95 % to 30 % and 8 %.

So if the Internet usage is to grow, it is to grow among people aged 55 and older.

This difference is a market opportunity recognized already by many players like telecommunication companies, financial services etc. It is yet to be recognized by many other players as hardware or software producers… and media themselves. It will be recognized sooner or later as Europe is aging. At this very moment 30 % of Poles are aged 50 and older. In 20 years there will be 50 %. No business can ignore such a change on the market.

According to our latest research study done in Poland infrastructure or money are not in fact the most important barriers for the elder people to start using the Internet. The top barrier is that they don’t see it any useful. The second barrier is they believe it is too complicated.

You can interpret these answers in many ways. Many researchers including me believe that what these people really mean is they face a lack of devices/services suitable to their capabilities and interests, and they don’t know what’s really useful for them on the Internet and how to use it.

Here come the iPad and others.

This new breed of hardware have been already supported by a new generation of software and you can just expect this trend to excelerate. New, easier to use software will help the old people to discover things we — the younger ones — already know like digital entertainment, communication, e-commerce. The most popular features of the Internet apart of finding information and news.

I have just shared my iPad with my parents-in-law. They have learnt it almost immidiately and started to use features they had never used before.

And watch this 99-year-old woman rediscover reading and writing thanks to this new device:

Remark: I have wrote this post to answer to questions raised after I have contributed to an overview of digital media trends published at BetaTales, the blog of John Einar Sandvand of Aftenposten in Norway.

I am going to share more insights about new media devices at the INMA Transformation of News Summit at Harvard on December 2-3, 2010.

Conversely, concern about unemployment has eased considerably and this issue has moved into second place in the list of concerns, also for the first time.

Further down the list by a long margin appear issues such as crime, pensions and retirement provisioning as well as housing and rents. (More results below.)

“Newspaper editors and marketeers can ask people what they are most concerned about and then develop their product to solve these problems. This is what really news design is about,” claimed Grzegorz Piechota and Jerzy Wojcik, two editors of Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza who hosted at the INMA Outlook 2009: European conference a session titled “Newsmedia that is relevant to the society.”

They presented exclusively to the INMA members and collegues the results of GfK’s research “Challenges of Europe.”

Research that newspapers can use to become more relevant to the society

GfK Group, a research company, is studying concerns of 450 million people in 10 European countries for the last seven consecutive years. The survey includes countries like Austria, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Every single year GfK’s researchers meet 12,000 people in those countries and ask them just one open-ended question: “In your opinion, what are the most urgent issues to be resolved currently in your country?” People can say what they wish and can mention as many problems as they want.

The survey clearly shows the trends: which concerns are moving up and which ones are falling. (Find examples below.) 

Interview with Angelika Kofler of GfK Austria

Last Thursday, on October 2nd, Piechota and Wojcik interviewed on stage Dr. Angelika Kofler, a a US- and Austrian-trained sociologist/social psychologist and has been Head of Department for Social Research at GfK Austria since 2001.

Ms. Kofler previously worked as senior researcher for the Interdisciplinary Center for Comparative Research in the Social Sciences, a social science institute doing for the most part multi-national European research projects.

Her publications cover mostly social policy issues, ranging from migration to issues of the information society to homelessness or the sociology of emotions or methodological issues.

Before Ms. Kofler went into research, she had a career in Austrian radio and television as announcer and news anchor and also worked for US print media and a consultancy company.

Watch this edited live conversation with Ms. Kofler and the audience of the INMA conference.

(Video brought to you by video journalists of Media Regionalne, Polish part of Mecom Group.)

Here are some comments about “Challenges of Europe” by Mark Hofmans of GfK Custom Research Development in Brussels: News design: focus on readers’ concerns, not yours.

Example: how to use this kind of research

Piechota and Wojcik wanted to check if newspapers’ contents really reflect people’s concerns.

Dow Jones, an owner to Factiva archives, agreed to run a data-mining research exclusively for the INMA conference.

They were provided with the list of some top concerns of the British society as they were found by GfK. Analysts of Dow checked how many articles about these issues were published in all four British quality newspapers during the first nine months of this year.

The result is astonishing. The order of topics is exactly opposite.

If there is no mistake, one can see how different are priorities of editors and the general public.

“So newspapers can use this research to evaluate and support their editorial and marketing choices,” commented Piechota and Wojcik.

Challenges of Europe: more results

As the full results of GfK’s research is available only to the INMA conference participants, we share here only an overview of results.

1. Prices

Currently, 29% of Europeans are observing the trend in prices and purchasing power with some concern. This represents an increase of 11 percentage points in the overall comparison.

The problem is perceived as particularly serious in France, where it is the No. 1 worry. Almost 50% of the French are worried about developments, which means that the number of people considering that the issue calls for urgent action has more than doubled.

In Belgium, Russia and Austria, dwindling purchasing power has become the most topical issue. At currently 39%, concern has risen more than fourfold in Belgium and almost trebled in Austria. In Germany, more than a third of the population considers the situation to be dramatic. In both Italy and Poland, a quarter of the nation is concerned. However, in the UK, the Netherlands and Spain, only one out of ten citizens sees a need for action.

2. Unemployment

At 24%, this year the concern about unemployment has dropped to its lowest value since the survey was launched in 2001. Compared with last year alone, the number of those criticizing how this issue is dealt with has fallen by a further 6 percentage points and is down by more than 50% on the highest level to date, which was recorded in 2002.

Nevertheless, citizens in Germany, Poland and Spain consider unemployment as the issue requiring the most urgent attention. Almost 50% of Germans and nearly a third of Polish people are anxious about the lack of jobs. However, as in most other countries covered by this survey, concern has decreased in these countries. This year, fears regarding unemployment have only increased perceptibly in Spain.

3. Crime

Despite a minimal reduction of one percentage point down to 13%, crime comes in at third place on the list of European concerns this year.

Italians, in particular, are calling for measures to combat crime. The issue already became more important in the prior year and is now considered to be a major problem by around one in three people, putting it in the number one spot on the agenda. One trigger for this increase may be the ongoing difficulties associated with organized crime in Italy. A further cause may be a greater trend towards addressing measures linked to domestic security during the election campaign in spring 2008. This topic featured heavily in the manifesto of Berlusconi’s centre-right coalition, which won the election.

At 27%, Brits are also very concerned about crime in their country.

4. Pensions

Pensions and retirement provisioning were mentioned by 13% of Europeans as issues which concerned them. This means that concern about these aspects has stagnated compared with 2007, remaining in fourth place in the list of challenges.

In Germany and Austria, they are a source of discontent for most citizens. In these countries, the topic troubles one in four and one in five people respectively. With double-digit figures, old age provisioning also features high on the list of concerns of Russians and Poles.

5. Housing

The housing issue has dropped by two places. After the latest high of 14% last year, the figure has gone down to 12% this year. However, in some countries this is a major issue.

Approximately 25% of the Spanish and Russian population are urging for an improvement in the situation. In the Russian housing market, the situation has been very unstable since the end of the Soviet era. Russians still spend the lion’s share of their incomes on rent and ancillary costs.

This topic has also left citizens of other countries dissatisfied. In the UK and France, 11% criticized high rent and the lack of housing.

6. Immigration

This year, Brits are primarily concerned with immigration and its consequences. This topic has continually gained in importance since 2006 and was mentioned by 31% of respondents in the current survey.

The trend is likely to have been triggered by a wave of immigrants coming from Eastern Europe in general and Poland in particular, in the wake of the recent EU expansion. In addition, the number of asylum seekers rose by 16% in the first quarter of 2008 while falling by an average of 10% in other EU countries over the same period.

7. Transport policy

As in the prior year, in the Netherlands, people are more concerned about transport than anything else. Overall, this topic ranks only in eleventh place on the list of European concerns.

Citizens are even more discontented with the situation this year than they were in 2007. With a rise of 4 percentage points to 32%, the latest figure almost matches the previous high recorded in 2001. At the time, 33% of the population saw transport policy as the issue requiring the most urgent attention.

The focus is on the considerable level of congestion and traffic jams in major Dutch cities. Conurbations are increasingly facing a collapse of their traffic systems.

8. Environment

The environment only reappeared in the list of top ten issues last year, having last been listed in 2001.

This year, the need for greater environmental protection has slipped into tenth place on the list of European concerns, following its ranking in ninth place in 2007. The number of mentions has decreased slightly to 6%.

At 12%, Dutch and Germans, in particular, view the environment as a major issue. However, Austrians, Italians and Brits are also relatively worried about the environment with 10% and 8%.

About GfK Group

The GfK Group is the No. 4 market research organization worldwide. Its activities cover the three business sectors of Custom Research, Retail and Technology and Media. The Group has 115 companies covering over 100 countries. Of a total of 9,297 employees (as of March 31, 2008), 81.1% are based outside Germany.

How many research studies assigned by newspaper publishers look like this nowadays? How many surveys with similar questions do you hide in your drawers? Do you remember any innovation that has been developed this way?

Readers don’t really know how to answer such questions. They are not experts on newspaper journalism and business. You, editors and publishers, are. You should decide.

Henry Ford, a founder of Ford Motor Company whose cheap cars revolutionized transport industry, famously said: “If I’d asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a better horse.”

Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, asked about a secret of its innovations like iPod and iTunes, admitted to Fortune Magazine: “We do no market research. We don’t hire consultants… You can’t go out and ask people, you know, what the next big thing.”

But you can ask people what they are most concerned about and then develop your product to solve these problems. This is what really “news design” is about.

Research that newspapers can really use

GfK Group, a research company, is studying concerns of 450 million people in 10 European countries for the last seven consecutive years.

Every single year they meet 12,000 people in those countries and ask them just one open-ended question: “In your opinion, what are the most urgent issues to be resolved currently in your country?” People can mention as many problems as they want.

GfK’s research “Challenges of Europe” can help newspaper editors focus on the most important concerns of their audiences. This is the only way they can change their newspapers to make them relevant.

The full results of GfK’s studies and analysis will be presented exclusively to newspaper executives at the the INMA Outlook 2009: European Conference in Vienna on October 1-3, 2008.

The research includes countries like Austria, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain and the United Kingdom. It clearly shows the trends: which concerns are moving up and which ones are falling.

Mark Hofmans, Managing Director of GfK Custom Research Development, will explain and comment on the results during an interview on stage on Thursday, October 2, in an interactive session titled ”Newsmedia That Is Relevant to Society”.

Other confirmed guest of this session is Rahul Kansal of the Times of India who will tell a story how the newspaper can become a catalyst for a social and political change.

The whole session is to be hosted by two editors of forum4editors.com working for Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza: Grzegorz Piechota and Jerzy Wojcik.

What is Mr. Hofmans personally concerned about?

Before coming to Vienna, Mark Hofmans answered to our questions by e-mail.

forum4editors.com: According to the GfK survey Belgians are most concerned with rising prices, crisis in politics, crime, unemployment and immigration. Can you tell me what are your personal concerns?

Mark Hofmans: My personal concerns are:

1. The increasing ‘clivage’: cultural, economic and social discrepancy between the North of Belgium and the South and the political chaos between The Flemish and the French speakers that as a consequence results in the exit of Belgium as a nation.
2. The integration of more and more immigrants in the Belgian turmoil.
3. The decreasing social security, especially the state pensions.

What media do you use to learn about these issues? What newspapers do you read most often?

I am a real media person, but atypical for Belgium. Almost every day and certainly in the weekend I try to read several Belgian newspapers and at least one international, mostly the Wall Street Journal Europe, as well as several Belgian and international magazines like Time, Newsweek, Der Spiegel. This is my way to find a balance between Right- and Left-oriented media and between the North and the South.

In the evening I complete my search for objective information with BBC, CNN and the Belgian channels as well as specific political oriented programmes like “Terzake”, “Le Point” etc.

Do you feel informed about issues that concern you most? Do you think the Belgian newspapers you read do the job to inform, explain and advice their readers about issues that concern the society in Belgium?

As I told you, I am fortunate to be well informed but most Belgians are not informed in an objective way as a consequence of the political national situation.

The media on both sides of the linguistic border do not always inform their readers and viewers in an objective way. They write and tell their “clients” what they want to hear because selling the media is sometimes more important than informing properly – even about national issues!!!

Several scientific studies have proved that sometimes the same political issue is “translated “ in quite a different way in the South and in the North, and as most Belgians do not get enough information from the “other” side anymore.

This “abyss” between the two cultures is growing day after day. In a nutshell: the Walloons know less and less about the Flemish part and the North less and less about the South.

Is there any other kind of information, or comment, or advice that you look for you, but you cannot find anywhere?

Information that everybody can get access through internet connections worldwide is wealthy, but uncontrolled. It is both an incredible source of information and a threat to those who cannot digest it properly.

About Mark Hofmans

Mr. Hofmans is a Managing Director of GfK Custom Research. He is responsible for development and training worldwide and coordinates its international surveys.

Before joining GfK, he worked for Sofres in France and Germany, Burke Intl. and headed the department at the International Institute for Opinion Polls at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

Among others he is a past president of Esomar association in Belgium, jury member of Effie advertising awards, lecturer at various Belgian and European universities and a frequent speaker at many academic, government and business conferences.

Mr. Hofmans is 54, married with 4 children. Lives in Brussels, Belgium.

About GfK Group

The GfK Group is the No. 4 market research organization worldwide. Its activities cover the three business sectors of Custom Research, Retail and Technology and Media. The Group has 115 companies covering over 100 countries. Of a total of 9,297 employees (as of March 31, 2008), 81.1% are based outside Germany.