From the 2010 Survey on Digital Broadcasting (Part Ⅰ)
March 2011
In view of the coming 2011 full digitalization of terrestrial TV broadcasting, the authors have been conducting the Survey on Digital Broadcasting annually since 2007, in order to chronologically understand the status of digital media usage by the Japanese people as well as their interest in them. The latest survey included precise questions regarding their “reactions to and evaluations of digitalization,” “information awareness,” and “concepts of living,” with an aim to explore how the public feel about the digital switchover. In this issue, the authors report the current usage of “digital broadcasting,” “One Seg,” “video recording,” and “Internet videos” as well as each characteristics and challenges. The next issue will cover public reactions to digitization.
As of September 2010, when the latest survey was conducted, 75% of the respondents owned a TV set that receives digital terrestrial broadcasts, an increase from 54% in 2009. When looking at all TV sets in each household, however, half of them were not capable of receiving digital signals. As for BS broadcasts, the percentage of users has also increased to 39% from last year’s 32%, but the penetration gap derived from economic disparity between families was wider than that of digital terrestrial broadcasts.
38% of the respondents said they use One Seg, with many of them being those in their 40s and under, regardless of gender. One Seg viewers has increased from last year in every age bracket, but those using One Seg more than one day a week accounted for 7%, almost no change from last year, which reveals the usage is yet to expand to keep up with the spread of devices. Many of the One Seg-users view content for a short time “outside the home,” but use of One Seg as second TV seems to be spreading among younger generation, aged 16 to 29.
Although the percentage of those who “record TV programs” stays at 50%, same level as in 2009, the number of those who do so “almost everyday” has increased, marking slightly higher “recording frequency.” Analyzing by recording devices, there was an increase in HDD users, from 37% in 2009 to 53%. It is revealed HDD users record TV programs more often than VCR users, suggesting the dissemination of digital devices is contributing to higher “recording frequency.” The survey also shows timeshifted TV viewing is gradually prevailing among young people, with more respondents recording “TV programs that interest me, whether or not I intend to watch them later.”
Of all respondents, 53% use the Internet while 31% view “online video,” keeping the same level as last year, but those who “watch TV programs” on video sites have increased to 14% from last year’s 11%. There was no change in the tendency of “the younger, the more often use video sites,” but the viewer base has become wider than last year, having expanded to include middle age bracket such as women in their 40s. Furthermore, in comparison with last year, a shift in usage from “video-distribution sites” to “video-sharing sites” was seen, and only 5% of the respondents said they also watch pay videos (4% in 2009), which indicates the number of pay-video users is not growing much.