A study reveals that despite the hype around the cultural impact of content creators and podcasts, the UK public sees them as the least culturally significant part of the media landscape.

The Cultural Advantage  study of 2,000 people in the UK. commissioned by Thinkbox, tested the cultural associations of eight different media: TV, cinema, radio, podcasts, video sharing sites (e.g. YouTube), social media, newspapers / magazines and content creators.

Key findings include:

• TV ranked the UK’s most culturally significant medium.
• Social media came second overall.
• Content creators and podcasts were ranked last.
• TV remains a dominant cultural force for 16-24s, second only to social media.
• UK values ‘continuity’ in culture above all else – TV and cinema judged the best at delivering this.

How do media impact culture?

Using a framework developed by cultural insight specialists everyday people, and incorporating a diverse range of academic perspectives, 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.

Taking these into account, the researchers were able 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 per cent of media’s cultural impact, followed by social media (14 per cent), cinema (12 per cent), radio (12 per cent), video sharing sites (12 per cent). The media with the least cultural impact are content creators (9 per cent) and podcasts (8 per cent).

For 16-24s specifically, social media had 19 per cent and TV 17 per cent. These were followed by video sharing sites (15 per cent), cinema (13 per cent), content creators (12 per cent), radio (8 per cent), newspapers/magazines (8 per cent), and podcasts (8 per cent).

Continuity is twice as important as currency

Some aspects of culture are more important than others.  The study found that continuity – things with influence and relevance that last –  had a 22 per cent 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 per cent share of importance.

By contrast, currency – fashionable or faddish moments in the zeitgeist – plays the least important role with a 9 per cent share of importance.

However, when the study looked just at 16-24s, continuity remains the most important, but currency moves up to second and purpose was deemed least important.

The study found that, on average, 66 per cent of adults associate TV with delivering continuity in culture. Cinema ranks second (48 per cent) followed by radio (37 per cent).  By contrast, content creators were relatively weak for continuity (16 per cent), as were podcasts (16 per cent).

Social media excel at delivering currency (47 per cent), followed by TV (40 per cent), then video sharing sites (33 per cent) and content creators (31 per cent).

Elliott Millard, Thinkbox CSO, commented: “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.”

Andrew Tenzer, Co-founder everyday people, added: “People and culture come in all shapes and sizes.  This study should challenge marketers’ cultural assumptions and encourage them to engage with diverse perspectives on the everyday things that shape people’s way of life.  The goal is to plan media more inclusively and find the mix that offers the widest network of cultural entry points for brands.”

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Categories: Articles, Broadcast, Consumer Behaviour, Research, Social Media

Tags: cinema, social media, Thinkbox, youtube