Television trumps social media as Brits follow US Election results

We are in the digital communication age, without question. In terms of everyday interaction social media, blogs and mobile are changing the way PRs and communications teams plan, execute and measure: But it’s not the only show in town.

The latest in a series of media consumption studies by elephant communications suggests that television was the dominant media that British adults turned to when following news and updates on the recent US Presidential Election.

Television news was the media most Britons turned to first to find out about the outcome of the US Election (36%), in contrast to just 13% who turned first to social media, which came in just behind BBC Online (15%).

Looking more broadly at news on both the UK Brexit vote and, more recently, the US Presidential Election, respondents were also asked which media they trusted most for balanced coverage. Again television came top (36%) and the position of print paid-for national newspapers rose to fourth place (14%). Here, the relative position of social media (8%) fell.

Guy Bellamy MD at elephant communications commented: “We track the media consumption habits of consumers and business leaders at intervals through the year. Whilst there is no question portable technology is changing the dynamics of how people in general gather and follow current affairs information and the news, notions that new world is replacing old world media is an over-simplification. Most people engage with an eclectic range of media each day, something that is interesting even if it defies simple typologies.

“The recent build up to both Brexit and the US Election have been such big media events, we thought it would be interesting to ask the public about the types of media that mattered to them - in terms of access, speed and trust.”

A full copy of elephant’s latest media consumption report will be released on 1 December. The study explores the degree to which the economic climate, trust on brands, technology innovation and major events have changed people’s media habits and hot topics during the course of 2016. For more information, contact the elephant team via www.elephantcommunications.co.uk

The research fieldwork was undertaken for elephant communications by its research partner YouGov, among a nat.rep. sample of 2,028 adults (18+) between 11-14 November 2016. The survey was carried out online.