A comparative analysis of online news consumption in Italy and US. Delivered at 10th Conference of the European Sociological Association RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe 8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

1. UNDERSTANDING THE ONLINE NEWS
CONSUMER. A COMPARATIVE STUDY
BETWEEN ITALY AND UNITED STATES
Lella [.] Mazzoli [@uniurb.it], Fabio [.] Giglietto [@uniurb.it]
Department of Communication Studies| LaRiCA | Università di Urbino Carlo Bo
10th Conference of the European Sociological Association
RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe
8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

2. Summary
• Survey background and methodology
• Main findings:
– The Basics (Internet Use, Social Network);
– The New Information Ecology;
– Online News Consumption;
– Participatory News Consumer.
• Conclusions
10th Conference of the European Sociological Association
RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe
8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

3. Survey background & methodology
Percentage of Italians 6+ who watch television, listen to radio, use the Internet
and 11+ who read newspapers and books
100
90
80
70
60
58
50
49
44
40 40
37
30 34
32
Source ISTAT
20
10
0
1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
TV Radio Newspapers Books Internet
10th Conference of the European Sociological Association
RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe
8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

4. Survey background & methodology
• Italian data (University of Urbino)
– Findings based on nationally representative
telephone surveys of Italian adults 18+ (N=1009);
– Interviews conducted between 10th December
2010 and 21th December 2010;
• US data (Pew Internet Project)
– Findings based on nationally representative
telephone surveys of US adults 18+ (N=2259);
– Interviews conducted between 28th December
2009 and 19 January 2010;
10th Conference of the European Sociological Association
RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe
8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

5. The Basics
Who’s online? The internet by age groups
100% 94%
90%
90% 84%
80% 76%
70%
70%
60%
50%
50%
40%
40%
30%
20%
20%
10%
0%
18-29 30-49 50-64 65+
Italy US 10th Conference of the European Sociological Association
RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe
58% 75% 8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

6. The Basics
Percentage of Online Adults Who Use Social Media (SNS)
90% 83% 82%
80%
70%
62% 64%
60%
50% 45% 47%
40% 37%
30% 28%
20%
10%
0%
18-29 30-49 50-64 65+
Italy US 10th Conference of the European Sociological Association
RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe
8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

7. The «New» Information Ecology
Adults who get news/info from multiple platforms on a typical day
US Italy
Platforms: Local/National TV, Radio 10th Conference of the European Sociological Association
RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe
Internet, Local/NationalNewspapers 8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

8. The «New» Information Ecology
Menu of choice for news on typical day
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Local TV News National TV Print national Print local Radio
News newspapers newspapers
Italy US
10th Conference of the European Sociological Association
RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe
8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

9. The «New» Information Ecology
Adults who use the internet to get news/info
US Italy
10th Conference of the European Sociological Association
RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe
8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

10. The «New» Information Ecology
The young are least likely to follow the news all or most of the time
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
18-29 30-49 50-64 65+
Italy US
10th Conference of the European Sociological Association
RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe
8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

11. The Online News Consumer
US Italy
3% 1%
38%
49%
50%
59%
Offline Only
Online & Offline
Online only
10th Conference of the European Sociological Association
RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe
8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

12. The Online News Consumer
Most Popular Online News Sources
US Italy
56% Portal sites 61%
46% TV news org site 53%
38% Special topic site 32%
38% Newspaper site 21%
30% Indiv or Org on SNS 21%
18% International News Org site 19%
10th Conference of the European Sociological Association
RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe
8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

13. The Online News Consumer
Most Popular Online News Topics
US Italy
81% Weather 80%
73% National events 76%
66% Health/Medicine 72%
64% Business & Finance 71%
60% Science & Technologies 58%
58% Developments in your state/region 52%
52% Sports 41%
10th Conference of the European Sociological Association
RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe
8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

14. The Online News Consumer
How many websites, if any, do you routinely rely on for news and
information?
70%
63% 57%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
one two to five six to ten 10+
10th Conference of the European Sociological Association
Italy US RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe
8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

15. The Online News Consumer
Adults who have a favorite online news source
US Italy
10th Conference of the European Sociological Association
RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe
8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

16. Participatory News Consumer
Personal (1/2)
(Internet users who customized their home page to include news and
information of particulat interest to them)
US Italy
10th Conference of the European Sociological Association
RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe
8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

17. Participatory News Consumer
Personal (2/2)
(Internet users who say that being able to customize content is something
they look for in an online news site)
US Italy
10th Conference of the European Sociological Association
RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe
8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

18. Participatory News Consumer
Social
(Internet users who get news and information through email or posts on
social networking sites few times a week or more often)
US Italy
10th Conference of the European Sociological Association
RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe
8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

19. Participatory News Consumer
Participatory
(internet users who contributed to the creation of news, commented on it, or
disseminated it via postings on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter)
US Italy
10th Conference of the European Sociological Association
RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe
8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

20. Conclusions
• Italian and American online news consumers
seems to share common usage and preference
patterns;
• It is reasonable to expect a strong impact on
the Italian news ecology (and politics?) in the
next few years;
• The study suggest therefore the need for a
permanent observatory on online news
consumption in Italy.
10th Conference of the European Sociological Association
RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe
8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

21. Useful links
• Full report and survey questions for Italian
data (in Italian);
• Full report and survey questions for US data;
• Stay in touch. Follow us on Facebook!
10th Conference of the European Sociological Association
RN18 - Politics and Media Politics in Europe
8th September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland