Origin Comms, an information security and technology PR specialist, today announced findings from new research into the media consumption trends of 201 UK-based IT decision-makers.
The research highlights that, since last year, the proportion consuming IT security content via IoT-enabled devices such as smartwatches or Amazon Alexa has leapt from three per cent in 2018 to 11 percent in 2019. Furthermore, for consuming IT content generally it has jumped from seven percent in 2018 to 19 percent in 2019 using the same sources.
YouTube and other video channels, similarly, have grown in popularity as security-specific news sources, from two percent in 2018 to 12 percent. Conversely, consumption via social media sites including Facebook and Twitter has declined slightly from 19 percent to 17 percent in 2019. Radio (three percent) continues to trail at the back of the field.
The research was conducted to update insights into the changing dynamics of media consumption among IT decision-makers. When questioned on which media they consume most frequently, the largest proportions follow tech websites (67 percent) and IT security-specific websites (64 percent), with vendor websites third (28 percent).
Origin also asked about print and online outlets they visit most frequently, specifically for IT security content. Tech websites (32 percent) and IT security-specific websites (32 percent) came out on top, in line with Origin’s 2018 survey.
The research also highlighted that almost half of IT decision makers (47 percent) spend between 31 minutes to two hours researching news of a data breach when they hear of it, yet admitted to spending an average of only seven minutes reading other news articles at any given time.
Origin Comms Paula Averley, Founder and Director said: “With data breaches making headlines almost daily, this provides huge opportunities for organisations looking to provide insight, particularly given this type of article really captures the attention of key audiences and decision makers.”
When asked where they will source cyber-security content in five years’ time, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, video channels, social media and blogs continue to rank popular as future media sources.
Cybersecurity vendors have plenty of choice and opportunity to raise their profile via the media. While traditional sources such as online websites and magazines remain popular for media consumption within the IT security community, other sources may be gaining traction among more tech-savvy IT security professionals.
New to the 2019 research, Origin asked what drives respondents’ decisions to attend/exhibit at trade events and the importance of these drivers in the decision-making process. Garnering sales leads and opportunities ( seven percent) or gaining new customers (six percent), ranked less important than the speakers (1.5 percent), keynotes (two percent), the ability to research the industry competition (two percent) and industry education (one percent).
