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Affluency: Among Affluent Americans, Print Media Is Tops

AdAge Article Published August 1, 2011 – Welcome to this month's Affluency column by Bob Shullman, President of Ipsos Mendelsohn, and Stephen Kraus, Chief Research & Insights Officer for Ipsos Mendelsohn, featuring insights from the Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey.

Mark Twain famously quipped that news of his death was exaggerated when the press mistook his cousin's serious illness for his own. Today, much the same could be said about traditional media. Of course, there is no denying the rapidly growing and truly disruptive impact of new devices and social media. But at the same time, there is also no denying that traditional outlets are thriving in the lives of consumers today, and that they form the core of how most consumers interact with media. This is true for the general population, and it is even true among the affluent Americans that we study, even though they have the discretionary income to indulge in an array of devices, as well as the digital literacy to get the most out of them.

When asked how they read magazines, 93% said they read hard-copy print versions; in contrast, less than a third read them on computers, and no other format garnered more than 10%. The same pattern is evident for newspapers, which 86% read in print, compared to the 39% who read them on computers, and 14% who read them via smartphone. TV shows are watched on TVs by 94%, followed by 23% who watch them on computers. Websites are viewed on computers by 94%, followed by 32% viewing them on smartphones. The pattern is clear across all media. The vast majority consume content through its most traditional outlet: magazines and newspapers in print, websites on computers, video content through TVs and so on.