European Media Audiences

Within the scope of the project “European Media Audiences”, surveys regarding the use of media and how media repertoires are put together were conducted in nine European countries. This was based on an online survey conducted in the participating countries in 2013, in which the interviewees described the frequency of using a great number of media. The comparative analyses were published in a special issue of the International Journal of Communication in 2015. The Hans-Bredow-Institut focused on how we can get an insight into the process of social appropriation of digital media by comparing countries where the internet development has progressed in different ways. Looking at the overall use of media, the analyses show that the relative share of online media use is smaller in countries with advanced internet development compared to other countries. Thus, there is no linear increase in online usage compared to using media offline. The social appropriation of digital media – depending on the respective cultural context – is not as straightforward as usually expected.