The Emerging Mobile Media Market: Exploring the Potential of Tablets for Media Content Consumption

Abstract

In adopting the qualitative research method of semi-structured self-completion diaries, this study explores how young adult consumers utilize tablets to consume media content traditionally available through television, radio, newspaper, and magazine platforms, perceptions of tablets as a media content platform in terms of benefits/needs met, accessibility, compatibility with existing media, usefulness, ease of use, and fun, how a tablet substitutes and/or complements traditional media usage, and the adoption factors that are important for users to adopt the tablet platform for mobile media consumption. The results show all the participants had positive video viewing experiences, supporting the claim that tablets are well designed for the consumption of video entertainment content. From the perspective of music/audio content, the participants seemed to indicate their needs might be better fulfilled by other smaller portable devices. On the other hand, the positive reading experiences described by the participants further expand the substitutive nature of the tablet for text/image content consumption. The findings presented here generally support the notions presented in the TTF framework, as the participants consistently evaluated their satisfaction of the tablet as a media platform dependent on how the device best delivered their media content.

DOI: 10.5294/pacla.2014.17.4.10