Old and New Media

The FINANCIAL — Knowing where your customers go for news, entertainment, and socialization is obviously important if you’re going to properly target your advertising and research.

Understanding the media consumption habits of Georgians can even help in finding ways to schmooze with your peers.   While general information is no substitute for in-depth market research, the following numbers might give you a general idea of where Georgians are putting their eyes.

Data from a survey conducted in 2012 by Georgian Opinion Research Business International included questions dealing with media consumption.  We asked where respondents got their news, with which websites they had accounts, and how frequently they used these various media.

As you probably already realized, television is ubiquitous in Georgia.  99% of households that we polled own a television, and most of these watch their set frequently.  92% of those polled are considered “regular users,” meaning they watch more than once a week, and only 2% said they never watched.  Online social media use is significantly lower in the general population, but its use among the younger generations is competitive with television.

TV is watched more regularly by the eldest generation (95%) than by the youngest (81%), but the increase is slight when compared to social media’s relationship to age.  70% of those between the ages of 16 and 25 use social media “every day,” “almost every day,” or “two or three times per week.” This number drops quickly with each generation, ending at 3% of those aged 66 or older.

So where are all of these people doing their social networking? In Georgia, there is an even tie between users of Facebook and of Odnoklassniki, each claiming 30% of the population.  Of course, membership is not mutually exclusive: 65% of the users of each site have an account with the other.  The two main differences in usership come from age and frequency of use.  Facebook is significantly more used by the youngest generation, but Odnoklassniki wins out with those aged 26-35.  Older than this, there are not enough users to call one network more beloved. The other major difference is by regular use: 83% of those with Facebook use it regularly, whereas 72% of Odnoklassniki users visit more than once a week.
 
Other networks show varying degrees of penetration and use.  Google+ has an inordinately large following in Georgia, with 14% of the population having accounts and 64% of its users being regular.  Linkedin is virtually unknown, though the few users that we interviewed used it somewhat frequently (57% were regular users).  Twitter and vkontakte never really took off, each claiming tiny portions of the population.

In the coming future, social media might break through the age barrier in Georgia as it has done in some other countries, but for now television remains king of media.