Date of Award
4-27-2001
Degree Type
UG Dissertation (Restricted)
Department
Marketing and International Business
First Advisor
Dr. Cui Geng
Abstract
The Hong Kong SAR government puts much effort on opening up the Hong Kong television market. In July 2000 they have announced the five succeeded applicants of the new pay-TV license. Although two have given up their license, in 2001, there is still about 100 more television channels. In 2002 to 2003, the free-to-air TV market will also be opened.
The digital transmission technology of television signals has revolutionized the industry. More broadcasters and TV channels will be emerged in the market. Todreas (1999:105) has suggested that the distribution of TV channels will become "commoditization". ' As competition intensifies and differentiation between distribution channels become difficult' (Todreas 1999:106).
From the government statistics, more than eight hundred thousand people aged between 10 to 19 in Hong Kong and about one to two youths in each family. The youth is a potential market. Fornas and Bolin (1995:48) suggested that the youth consume "much greater extent (of television) than the rest of the population." The authors (1995:138) suggested that individualization intensify the variation of their leisure activities.
In addition, Internet usage has affected the youth culture. The values of N-Gen (net generation) is active on social issues, much knowledgeable, concern for individual 3 right (Tapscott, 1998:9). Their culture and values are different from the X-generation. In the fragmented market, segmentation is important to identify the target customers. In Gunter's (1992:25) book he has identified four main segmentation bases, demographic, geographic, benefit and psychological segmentation.
Two phases of research will be conducted, it includes the focus group discussion and the survey.
The research aims at finding the time schedule, program choices and the desired programs of the youth. It links with the demographic data, lifestyle and value system to develop a segmentation method for the market in facing the digital era.
The study has explored the different influences of demographics, lifestyle and psychographics on the youth TV viewing behavior. It also mentions the impact of recent emerged media, Internet on their TV viewing habit. Based on our study, demographic segmentation is an effective way in segmenting the market.
Some limitations of our study should be aware of. The influence of living regions has not been tested. There may have bias between status and living regions. The working youth is not tested in the report due to the sample size is small.
It is recommended the demographic data is suitable for segmenting the market. TV broadcasters should target the higher and lower secondary students separately.
Further studies should be focused on positioning of channels and the broadcasters.
Additionally, our study has found that dramas are much welcomed within the youth and the movies are not enough currently. Therefore, the future studies should focus on the actual quality and content of programs.
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Shum, K. W., & Ho, K. K. (2001). Segmentation of the youth for Hong Kong television broadcasting market in the digital era (UG dissertation, Lingnan University, Hong Kong). Retrieved from https://commons.ln.edu.hk/mkt_fyp/7