Starcom Romania launches the 2018’s edition of the Consumer Report study

Consumption Habits, Marketing

Starcom Romania follows and analyses the consumer behavior of the Romanians regarding the content consumption, practical activities, buying behavior and use of technology, in order to understand them in all their complexity and to offer them relevant experiences. Found at the fifth edition, Consumer Report centralizes and sums up all these information.

The study devised the consumers in four categories, representative for the lifestyle in which they are: Families with kids – families that take care of children with the age until 14 years, most of them being 18-45;  „Teens” – scholars with ages 14-17; Single Youth – with the age 18-34; Families without kids – the majority of the family’s members are over 45 years old and don’t have children younger than 14 years old in their care.

Traditional TV or online?

Romanians in urban prefer to watch the traditional TV, having a constant evolution in the last years. The video online content consumption registered a small growth in the last years, reaching 40% in urban and 70% among Teens, respectively 73% in Single Youth. We see a growth trend among the Families with Kids also, but that it has remained the same in the last 2 years.

The Smart TV coverage

We can see an upward trend among all the segments that have a Smart TV at home, especially the Families with kids, most probably because they need to interact in the media content consumption and use apps and online platforms available on this type of device.

What are the preferred devices for the time spent online?

Despite the the fact that most of the respondents access the Internet on the PC (Desktop/ Laptop), the online content consumption on these devices is decreasing, while the time spent online on the mobile phone is growing year by year. This change in the consumption can be observed especially among the young segments (Teens și Single Youth).

Recently, the usage of tablets decreases among the Families with kids and the Teens, the new generations being more familiar with the use of the smartphones.

The mobile phone usage – how many Romanians in urban own a smartphone?

The possession of a smartphone is an upward trend with an accelerate growth among the Families with kids and with the biggest adoption rate among Teens and Single Youth. In 2018, more than half of the urban population uses a smartphone.

What are the social networks preferred by the Romanians? 

Facebook is by far the most popular social media channel, with a significant growth rate among the mature segments (Families with or without kids), during the last year, while among the other segments the consumption stagnated. The young segments (Teens and Single Youth) continues to be the most active on the majority of the social media platforms, especially Instagram, that grows visible from one year to another.

Gaming devices

The gaming on PC or console is a decreasing trend, even for the segments Teens and Single Youth. They have replaced the two devices with the mobile phone and the online games: 52% from the Teens and 40% from the Single Youth use weekly the mobile phone for playing (source: SNA Focus 2018). The conclusion is aligned with the global trend of the games consumption on the mobile that is the biggest growth segment in 2018, with a volume of USD 25 million (statista.com).

The decreasing trend of having a games console is reflected also in the data of the study Black Firday 2017, this type of products registering one of the smallest conversion rates (14%): from 22% that intended to buy only 3% actually bought this type of product (source: Starcom Media & Kantar TNS, Studiul Black Friday 2017).

How much audio content do Romanians consume? 

The music CDs and sticks aren’t popular anymore, the consumption of offline audio content is in continuous decrease since 2016 in all the segments. There is seen a growth in the consumption of audio online content, both at the level of the entire urban population, as well as among the Teens și Single Youth segments, especially in 2017.

How popular are the festivals among Romanians?

In 2018, the segments Teens and Single Youth have the biggest rate of participation in events and festivals throughout the year. Still, it is observed a small decrease compared to the previous period of time, while it concerns the Teens participation.

A segment in which it can be seen a growth rate of participation at events is Families with Kids, considering that these festivals or concerts are the right experience for the little ones.

The editorial content 

Here is a descendant trend, both in online and offline, starting 2017 and in all segments. It comes as a consequence of the informative role that social media had, that is in a significant growth. Books maintained a constant rate,m but a low one. Teens are buying books in the same amount as they buy newspapers and magazines.

The offline activities

All the analyzed segments started to loose their interest in sports. In 2018, only 1 in 10 respondents in urban declare that they would pay to see a football match. Sports lost their glam even in the role of entertaining activity: Teens and Single Youth most probably play football online (FIFA), and less than 15% play football outside at least once a year.

The buyer’s behavior and the importance offered to brands

In 2018, 1 din 2 teens chooses a product depending on its brand, this decision being caused by the fact that teens consider that the used brands must represent them.

The Celebrities’ influence 

During the last years, the Influencer’s role is growing in the consumer’s buying decision. For the Teens, the Celebrities’ recommendations are important through the trust they are offering a brand or a service. Their influence is growing a little among all the segments analysed.