User Habits Create Change Within the Media Industry
My day often begins, as does many others, with beams of light streaming from my smartphone brightly onto my face. Usually in an effort to delay the obligations of the day, I skim through my smartphone for pressing news.
Although my day begins early in the morning with media consumption, it does not end there and generally continues until I shut my eyes for a night’s rest. Though sporadic throughout the day, my media consumption habitually lasts from morning until night during the weekday.
This two-day log proved to be an exception, as my media consumption decreased on Monday due to the holiday, but did reveal some interesting insights into my media use. This log revealed that I mainly consumed media in three areas of the day: morning, afternoon (when I didn’t have class) and evening/nighttime — with the most highly trafficked media times in the morning and evening.
Most importantly, it also revealed that I consumed media through predictable mediums depending on the time of day. Usually in the morning and at night, I navigated media through my smartphone, while I viewed media on my computer mainly during the evening.
Tracking data like this has a large affect on the media industry. This data reveals the highest trafficked times on the most trafficked devices, so companies can tailor their content to these platforms and reach their viewer in an unprecedented way. Media companies can funnel traffic to their websites, apps, content etc. and maximize their viewership by using consumer habits.
Even more interesting, is when media is located within a third party platform such as Facebook. When I was done viewing content on Facebook and even after I had clicked out of the content browser, Facebook continued to show me rows of similar videos on my timeline that I “might” like — all based on my viewing habits.
In many ways, I feel as though this method of tracking consumer habits has transformed and benefited media organizations within the industry. But, this could lead to polar viewpoints because viewers are then consuming only media that aligns with their own views.
Even though I am often consuming media that agrees with my own viewpoint, with little diversity, my needs are sometimes not met. There are many economic and political media organizations that fail to break down material in a digestible way. This is a content issue, but it does affect my user consumption and desire to continue engaging with particular media outlets for an extended period of time.
