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Online main source for tech news

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 26 Apr 2012

Seventy-eight percent of executives go online for their technology news, a recent survey has revealed.

“The challenge for online media, whether technology or general media, remains to turn all those eyeballs into revenue and profit,” commented Mads Christensen, network director at Eurocom Worldwide.

“Anecdotal evidence from our member agencies around the world suggests that journalists in both online and print are having to work harder and produce more with fewer resources.”

Samantha Watt, MD of Watt Communications, said that while online media is the main channel for technology news, print media is still relevant, with higher figures in comparison to some online sources.

Watt says 70% of respondents read a print industry tech journal monthly and 40% do so weekly, while 37% preferred national newspapers, 30% blogs, 33% search engines and 42% social media channels.

The survey also revealed that 83% of respondents used their laptops to access this information, while 61% used mobile phones, 30% tablet devices and 27% desktop PCs.

“Improvements in the tablet reading experience, combined with their rapid growth, could well encourage more users to subscribe for content. However, it remains to be seen whether publishing specifically to tablets will be a winner for the traditional print media,” added Watt.

The study was conducted online during January and February, with responses mainly from Europe and the Americas. Findings were based on the responses of 318 participants, who were senior executives.

Eurocom Worldwide and Watt Communications conducted the survey.

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