Abstract
Purpose ? The current study aims to examine how media ownership, media
usage and attention to advertising vary among urban and rural children
in Mainland China and also to collect information about the contexts
of media usage and time spent on various activities including media
usage.
Design/methodology/approach ? A survey of 1,977 urban and rural children
ages six to 13 in the four Chinese cities of Beijing, Guangzhou,
Nanjing and Shanghai, and in the rural areas of the four provinces
of Heilongjian, Hubei, Hunan, and Yunnan, was conducted in March
2003 to May 2004. Questionnaires were distributed through 16 elementary
schools and local researchers were selected and trained to administer
the data collection.
Findings ? Media ownership and media exposure were high for television,
children's books, cassette players, VCD players and radios among
both urban and rural samples. In general, media ownership, exposure
and usage were higher among urban children than among rural children.
However, television ownership and television exposure were slightly
higher among rural children than among urban children. The urban-rural
gap between media ownership and media exposure was more prominent
for new media such as DVD and computer/internet. Chinese children
had low to medium attention to advertising. Rural children reported
a higher attention to television commercial than urban children,
while urban children reported a higher attention to other forms of
advertising than rural children. Media usage by sex and by age group
was also reported.
Research limitations/implications ? Three of the four surveyed urban
cities were highly advanced in terms of their economies and advertising
development compared with all other Chinese cities.
Practical implications ? The study should serve as an advertising
media-planning guideline for marketers and advertisers in China.
It can help marketers select the right type of media to reach a specific
age-sex profile of urban and rural Chinese children. Television,
the internet and children's print media can be good potential media
for promotion to urban children. TV, children's books, cassette tapes,
VCDs and radios can be good potential media for promotion to rural
children.
Originality/value ? This paper offers insights for designing media
strategies to disseminate market information to urban as well as
rural children in China.
Keywords: Advertising media, Children (age groups), China, Consumer
psychology, Mass media
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