Mass Media in Zambia Demand-Side Measures ... - AudienceScapes

Ib: Media UseIn addition to having household access to a mass media device, the frequency with whichrespondents say they use a medium 2 , can illustrate evidence of shared use of media‐ such ascommunal television viewing, sharing newspapers among households, etc. It can also point outto instances of limited use of a medium despite its availability in the household, thus giving amore holistic view of media reach.Measures in the survey of "media use" ‐ the frequency with which respondents said they USEa certain medium ‐ suggest that use outside the home is not a significant factor. In otherwords, there was very little difference between the percentage of people saying they havehousehold access to a given medium and the percentage of people who said they use thatmedium regularly (compare Figure 1.5 with access figures above).However, some demographic factors such as income and English language skills, as well asgeographic location, seem to be correlated to medium use.Figure 1.5 illustrates that radio is the most widely used mass medium among both rural andurban populations and thus likely to be the most efficient way to reach the largest numberand most diverse set of Zambians on a national scale. Radio is thus is an important conduitthrough which development workers can communicate with both literate and economicallyadvanced urban populations, as well poorer and illiterate populations at relatively similar costs.________________________________________________________________________Figure 1.5__________________________________________________________________________2 Regular users are defined in this report as those who use a medium at least weekly