More Filipinos now using Internet for news, information–study

TURNING TO DIGITAL MEDIA. A Filipino student logs on to a website, one of many used to access information. AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – More Filipinos are using digital media for news and information rather than listening to radio or reading newspapers and magazines, according to a study conducted by TNS, a global research company.

“TNS Digital Life 2012” showed that 45 percent of Filipino respondents connected to the Internet compared to 36 percent who listened to radio, 12 percent who read newspapers, and 4 percent magazines.

The 2012 study showed a jump in the number of Internet users compared to 36 percent in 2011; a decrease in radio listeners who were at 40 percent in 2011; a further decrease in newspaper and magazine readers who were at 22 percent and 4 percent respectively in the same year.

Television remains the dominant medium of information with 89 percent in 2012, up from 77 percent in 2011, the same study said.

The study was based on interviews with 72,000 consumers in 60 countries worldwide from November 2011 to January 2012.

In the Philippines, TNS interviewed 1000 respondents throughout urban areas from the ABCD socio-economic classes.

The study also showed that majority of Filipinos accessing the Internet were teens and young adults, with 85 percent of Filipinos aged 16 to 20 accessing the Internet in the past four weeks, and 74 percent of Filipinos between 21 and 24 accessing the Internet in the same period.

The study also showed that families of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the Philippines used the Internet as the primary communication medium with 81 percent, higher than mobile phones, 77 percent, and landline telephones, 24 percent.

Facebook is the primary social networking site used by 90 percent of families of OFWs to keep in contact with their relatives abroad, the study showed.

The study also showed that Filipinos accessed the Internet mostly through personal computers either at home, 50 percent, or at Internet cafes, 49 percent.

It also noted that there was an increasing number of people accessing the Internet through mobile smartphones at 12 percent.