Linear television is a major player in the video content consumption market. Hungarians are considered to be very significant linear TV viewers in international comparison.
At the same time, digital media poses a challenge to the position of traditional broadcasting.
In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the rise of streaming and other online video platforms, which have become an increasingly common part of everyday media consumption alongside traditional linear television viewing. The consumption of multimedia content is becoming more natural every year, so our primary goal is to continuously monitor these trends and processes and keep up to date with them.
The aim of the research, commissioned by MEME and supported by NMHH, was to present the preferences, choice criteria and commitment of Hungarian households to television subscriptions.
New dimensions of changing media consumption patterns
In the recent years, the rise of streaming and other online video platforms has attracted increasing attention as they have become part of our daily lives alongside linear TV viewing.
Every year, multimedia content consumption has become a more and more natural phenomenon, and we try to keep up to date with the trends and developments.
The aim of this research is to show the changes in the young cohort’s audiovisual preferences, supply of devices, content consumption preferences, interests and attitude to television content which was examined 3 years ago.
Nowadays, there is a growing trend towards watching various content on other media platforms apart from linear television. This phenomenon has been significantly more pronounced in the past few years, in particular while being locked up in our homes because of the Covid pandemic. These days, watching multimedia content is increasingly becoming a natural part of our daily lives.
Could there be a new challenger to classic linear TV channels?
A new service in the US called FAsT TV takes a visible share of the linear TV market. It seeks to increase its popularity by providing a wide range of content and by being available to viewers for free, i.e. without a subscription fee. Services launched by major content producers organise non-fresh, currently underused content into thematic channels that viewers can watch for free in exchange for enduring advertisements. A recent research conducted by the Association of Hungarian Electronic Broadcasters (MEME) has explored the potential of the new concept in Hungary. Research results suggest that the service could be viable in Hungary and could stand the competition with linear television in the content delivery market.
Many children get mobile phones and TikTok at
the age of ten
About the research question and methodology
In children's media consumption, the use of different devices and platforms changes and shifts more quickly in the direction of new technology than in older age groups.
The goal of the research was to explore the process of digital education, including the devices usage and the viewing of various media contents. In the course of the complex, multi-step research, interviews have been conducted by parents of the preschoolers (400 interviews nationwide), the lower/upper elementary students and their parents (400 interviews nationwide) and the preschooler/elementary teachers (400 interviews nationwide). In the case of preschoolers, focus group discussions were also organized with children aged 4-6. The research took place in September and October 2022 by the co-operation of NMHH, National Media and Infocommunications Authority, and MEME, Association of Hungarian Electronic Broadcasters.
Traditional way of watching television is still in strong position
Research question and methodology
The mediums providing news and content have developed various business models in the past few years. Among those models we can find solutions that are either financed by advertising money or by the costumers, or - in hybrid models - even by both. Considering these various models, it’s interesting to see how the proportion of traditional TV-watching and the proportion of streaming will look like in the future. Among other subjects the answer to this question have also been provided by the latest research that covered 3000 Hungarian households applying a national representative sample. The study has been conducted in the co-operation of MEME, the Association of Hungarian Electronic Broadcasters and NMHH, National Media and Infocommunication Authority.
TV-set is still the No1 device
Undoubtably, besides the traditional TV-set there are many different devices - that can deliver media content - are available in the households, such as laptops, tablets, smartphones. However, still the traditional TV-set is the number one device for consuming video media content.
Either we consider the real-time content broadcasted by the TV channels or the content provided by the streaming suppliers, the hegemony of the traditional TV-set as a device is unquestionable.
In the collaboration of MEME, the Association of Hungarian Electronic Broadcasters and NMHH, the National Media and Infocommunications Authority, Involving Imspira Research Ltd. we prepared a research in which 2000 50–75 year old Hungarian residents were asked about their media consumption habits.
According to the research results, for the 50-75 age group, traditional TV channels are still the most important source of information, as three quarters of them watch traditional TV channels on a daily basis, and also about three quarters inform themselves from news of these TV channels.
