German Consumers Relying Heavily on Traditional Media
Germans consume a lot of media, but surprisingly perhaps for many people, traditional media are the most accessed. TV, radio, magazines and newspapers are the top 4 most used media according to a recent study by BITKOM, the Federal Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media.
In March 2012 99% of the population ages 14-and-older watched TV. 94% of the respondents said they listened to radio and just as many people declared they read magazines and newspapers. Internet is only the 5th medium in this top, with 76% mentioning it. 55% of the respondents said they use social media, and only 37% stated they use mobile internet.
eMarketer forecasts however that total social network users in Germany will reach 34.7 million in 2014, almost 43% of the total population. Socialbakers.com estimated that 23.2 million people are using Facebook in Germany, but there is a possibility that this number includes some duplicate accounts. Data is from April 2012 and shows that there is a rather even percentage of usage of Facebook between the sexes: 48% male and 52% female, and that the majority of users are aged between 18 to 34 years old.
This information is of high importance to any company wanting to reach as effectively as possible existing and potential customers. Germany is Europe’s largest exporter, but also has the largest consumer base, therefore its population is important to almost any company seriously targeting this market for selling products and even services. It looks like current communication strategies should rely on traditional media. Of course, Internet shouldn’t be excluded from communication as, according to the findings, there is a strong consumers base here too, and social media can also be taken in consideration for a closer interaction with consumers. It is likely that in the future the time spent on social media networks will increase, and maybe even the percentage of people using mobile internet as big companies launched and continue to launch new and better smartphones.
