Brits believe content creators and podcasts are the least culturally significant part of the media landscape, according to a new study.
‘Cultural Advantage’, commissioned by Thinkbox, found that overall television is seen as the UK’s most culturally significant medium, with social media coming in second. Although, among younger audiences, those positions are reversed.
The study tested 2,000 people in the UK on the cultural associations they have of eight different media channels:
- TV
- Cinema
- Podcasts
- Video sharing sites (e.g. YouTube)
- Social media
- Newspapers/magazines
- Content creators
The study tested seven ways media shape culture, which are important to people’s lives to differing degrees. In order of importance, they are: continuity, purpose, bonding, affirmation, transformation, bridging, and currency.
The researchers used these to calculate an overall cultural impact for different media as well as understand different media’s impact on different types of cultural associations.
They found that TV accounts for 21% of media’s cultural impact, followed by social media (14%), cinema (12%), radio (12%), and video-sharing sites (12%). The media with the least cultural impact are content creators (9%) and podcasts (8%).
For 16-24s specifically, social media had 19% and TV 17%. These were followed by video sharing sites (15%), cinema (13%), content creators (12%), radio (8%), newspapers/magazines (8%), and podcasts (8%).
The study found that continuity — things with influence and relevance that last — had a 22% share of importance, playing the most important role in how media shapes culture and the way of life for people in the UK.
Purpose — how culture positively influences people’s sense of wellbeing and contributes to personal growth — is the second most important aspect in how media shapes culture in the UK with a 17% share of importance.
Elliott Millard, Thinkbox CSO, said: ‘All media contribute to culture, but some deliver more cultural impact than others. This study shows that people see TV as the medium with the greatest and most lasting cultural influence.
‘The findings also suggest that cultural longevity matters more to people than simply being part of the latest online fad.’
