Media Competition for Time and Gratification in a Multimedia Environment: An Analysis of the Audience’s Gratification Niche among Mobile Media, Personal Computer, and Television

• In Event: Mobile Compared to Immobile Communication

Abstract

This study has attempted to examine competition among mobile media, the PC, and TV. To develop the research questions, this study performed literature analysis of the niche gratification theory on previous literature. Three key factors, the cognitive factor, gratification opportunities factor, and affective factor, were drawn as specific gratifications for using various types of media devices. These three factors fit best with the cognitive and affective gratifications from Uses and Gratifications research.
The results showed that, overall, the smartphone provided the highest level of gratification, while TV had the narrowest niche breadth. This means that the smartphone is a generalist medium that may satisfy the needs of users in almost all dimensions, while TV is a specialist platform with a niche breadth score closer to 0 than 1. The smartphone and tablet devices have a strong gratification overlap and many common functions. It seems likely that continued innovation of these devices will go hand-in-hand with their ongoing mutual competition. For competitive superiority, the smartphone was the most superior medium, but not for the cognitive factor. This means that media users preferred the PC when they searched for information. PC technology is more mature than that of the smartphone and tablet. Thus, the PC has a more powerful ability to work on complex and sophisticated tasks than does the smartphone or tablet device. The results of this current study reflect the perspective of uses and gratifications theory and current trends in convergence of various media platforms. This study shows that although the usage of mobile media is increasing, individuals still use mobile media, personal computer, and TV together. Thus, these results demonstrate the converging trend of various media platform rather than displacement.

Author

• Moonhoon Choi, University of Florida