In 2008, there were just 800,000 domestic smartphone subscribers. But this number increased to 20 million by Sep. 2011, and exploded to 42.32 million in 2012. The widespread emergence of smart phones and tablet PCs as a new mobile medium has not only ...
In 2008, there were just 800,000 domestic smartphone subscribers. But this number increased to 20 million by Sep. 2011, and exploded to 42.32 million in 2012. The widespread emergence of smart phones and tablet PCs as a new mobile medium has not only brought about the development of ubiquitous wireless internet technology but has also triggered a fundamental change in the paradigm. In addition, the contemporary business environment and advertising market are awash with a number of changes and opportunities.
While the spread of mobile media such as smartphones is serving as a driving force behind the growth of the internet and mobile advert market, it is having a negative impact on the conventional publishing and newspaper advertising market. Specifically, the presence of newspapers heavily reliant on printed ads for profit has been gravely challenged in the wake of fast spreading mobile media. Amid the
uncertainly overshadowing their prospects, newspapers have adopted various strategies to spread the use of their own mobile media, such as apps, which they are distributing them free of charge or in exchange for money. In doing so, the newspapers are looking for ways to survive changes in the market conditions by securing an additional base of customers and reaping profits from advertising through apps.
With this as the background, the study subdivided smartphone users who are evenly distributed across the spectrum and determined the differences that exist in each of the groups to examine what specifically drives smartphone users to use newspaper apps, and assess their attitudes toward advertising in apps. This study, focusing on identifying the prevailing attitudes towards news app advertising and the motivation behind the use of news apps based on consumer lifestyle, will be particularly valuable for newspaper businesses faced with the need to finely tune their strategy for target customers and deliver targeted messages. In addition, it is expected that this data will help newspapers to set a direction that promotes better business performance.
The study conducted an online survey of 453 smartphone users between the ages of 20 and 60 across the country. The 453 surveys collected underwent a focused statistical analysis using the SPSS statistical program. In order to meet empirical analysis criteria, reliability and factor analysis methods were used. Based on the lifestyle factor score derived through factor analysis, cluster analysis was introduced. One-way ANOVA was introduced to identify the differences among groups elicited from cluster analysis. After that, additional analysis was introduced to identify the correlation between attitude toward news app advertising and the motivation behind the use of news apps.
The results show that first, smartphone users can be classified into three lifestyle groups, which prioritize social life, mobility and family-oriented success, respectively. Second, the prevalent motivations behind the use of news apps were, in order, habitual in-between activity, information, convenience, exchange of views and gaming.
Third, by analyzing correlation between lifestyle groups and the motivation behind the use of news apps, it was found that a difference exists between the two, excluding gaming, and that the mobility trend group accounts for a larger proportion of news app users than any other group. Fourth, by analyzing the correlation between lifestyle groups and attitude towards app advertising, it was found that the mobility trend group showed a relatively high score on attitude toward news app advertising, with the score being low in general. Fifth, by analyzing the correlation between the motivation behind news apps and attitude toward app advertising, it was found that the pursuit of in-between leisure activity, convenience, exchange of views and gaming, excluding information, has a significant impact on the attitude towards news app advertising. In particular, a close look at the standardized coefficient shows that exchange of views has the greatest impact on the attitude toward news app advertising.
The study shows three findings. First, the smartphone users are classified into three types of group depending on their lifestyle: ‘a social enjoyment oriented group’, ‘a mobility trend oriented group’, and ‘a family success focused group. Second, the study on the motivation behind the use of news apps provides a practical strategy to boost news app development and advertising. Third, the motivation for the use of the news app in each lifestyle group was strong in general, which may convince newspaper businesses to find opportunities in the smartphone media market by developing news apps. Fourth, the study shows that the attitude toward news app advertising is generally below average, and that the difference by cluster is significant, raising the need to develop an ad strategy that is fine-tuned to the group type.
Fifth, as a result of examining attitude toward news app advertising based on the motivation behind the use of news apps, it was found that all motivations other than information have a positive effect on the attitude toward advertising. This suggests that user satisfaction with the general use of news apps may have a positive impact on the attitude toward news app advertising.