Ryosuke Igari: Changes in Media Usage Behavior

2025/06/11

I have been conducting research on the empirical analysis of consumer behavior using behavioral data, such as internet browsing and in-store purchasing behavior. My recent interest lies in people's media usage behavior. This is because I have always loved TV dramas and previously worked for a company that primarily handled media data. Until a while ago, terrestrial TV programs were the mainstream form of video content. However, in recent years, ways to watch video content have diversified to include not only TV programs but also catch-up TV (such as TVer) distributed online after broadcasting, video streaming services like Netflix, and video-sharing services like YouTube.

One of my recent studies examined changes in media usage by the same individuals due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting stay-at-home requests. Looking back at media usage in 2020, during the spring of 2020 when the state of emergency was declared (the so-called "first wave"), the total viewing time for terrestrial TV increased significantly compared to the previous year. In particular, viewership for "News," "Education/Culture," and "Variety Shows" increased. Additionally, the use of the internet and apps also grew substantially during the same period. It is thought that people with extra time due to staying at home began using TV and the internet more than ever. Interestingly, however, despite the continuation of the pandemic through the second and third waves after the summer of 2020, media usage gradually decreased and returned to almost the same level as the previous year by the end of the year. This is likely because the pandemic lasted longer than expected, leading many people to adapt to a "new normal" and shift back toward their daily routines.

While changes in media usage during the pandemic can be considered a special case, as mentioned earlier, media and video content are diversifying every year, and people's usage behavior is changing accordingly. However, it is difficult to continuously obtain behavioral data for the same individuals regarding their viewing of terrestrial TV, catch-up TV, and video streaming services, and there are still few studies that analyze these in an integrated manner. In the future, I hope to flexibly develop my research to keep pace with the diversification and changes in such media usage behavior.