Displacing the Displacement Hypothesis? Does the Internet Really Displace Traditional Media?

Displacing the Displacement Hypothesis? 1

Displacing the Displacement Hypothesis?

Does the Internet Really Displace Traditional Media?

By Edson C. Tandoc Jr.

Missouri School of Journalism

University of Missouri-Columbia

[email protected]

Paper presented at the

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication 2012 Conference

Chicago

August 2012

mailto:[email protected]


Abstract

Using two representative national surveys in the Philippines in 2003 (n = 76,100) and

2008 (n = 60,817), this study revisits the media displacement hypothesis. It looks at the relative

proportions of total media use devoted to traditional media (newspaper, magazine, movies, radio

and television) and to the internet. The findings do not displace the displacement hypothesis.

Instead, it finds that the proportions devoted to newspaper, magazine and radio use actually

decreased as that devoted to internet increased. However, the proportions devoted to movie-

going and television also increased. The study offers an explanation to this pattern, a

combination of displacement and redistribution, using the framework of the relative constancy

principle and the theory of the niche.


Introduction

The newspaper is doomed, naysayers say. The tug-of-war for eyeballs is over. Internet

emerged victorious. People’s media habits have changed and newspaper organizations, in order

to catch up, have started online news sites (Boczkowski, 2005, 2010) that only speed up the

demise of the traditional print medium. In the United States, for instance, not only are the

numbers of newspapers and those that read them declining, but print advertising is also shrinking

(Edmonds, Guskin, & Rosenstiel, 2011).

A sweeping assumption is that the internet is displacing traditional media. This

displacement hypothesis has been tested not only on time spent on specific media (e.g. Ha &

Fang, 2012; Lee & Leung, 2008) but also on how much households spend on mass

communication consumption (e.g. McCombs & Nolan, 1992; Son & McCombs, 1993). The

literature, however, is not unanimous in finding that internet displaces traditional media. For

instance, others advance the saturation hypothesis, arguing that people accommodate new media

while maintaining use of traditional media (Newell, 2007; Newell, Pilotta, & Thomas, 2008) or

that use of new media can drive use of the old (Dutta-Bergman, 2004; Lin, 2001). These offer

some hope to the embattled print medium: the internet can actually be an ally. Thus, print

newsrooms converge operations with online platforms in an attempt to maximize resources and

to make sure they follow wherever news consumers are, making media convergence a media

industry buzzword (Dailey, Demo, & Spillman, 2005; Singer, 2008, 2009; Wasserman, 2006).

But most of these efforts at shedding light on the relevant area of changing media

consumption patterns have been Western-centric. This current study aims to contribute to this

growing area of research through a trend analysis using national surveys from the Philippines, a

country of 99 million people with one of the most vibrant and freest media systems in Asia.


Literature Review

The story of the newspaper is the story of an endless struggle for survival. Having

survived the challenges posed by the radio, television and cable TV, it again finds itself

confronted by the internet. For some, the battle is over. Online news has won. A testament is the

continuous decline in the number of newspapers and those who pay for them (Edmonds, et al.,

2011). The institutionalization of media convergence in many newsrooms around the world

proves the central place online news has occupied. Readers are shifting from the embattled

newspaper to their online counterparts. It is only a matter of time before advertisers follow these

readers in droves. From a technological perspective, media convergence refers to the coming

together of different platforms or mediums—print, telecommunications and internet—to provide

information (Killebrew, 2003). For businesses, each platform means a potential avenue for

revenue. Therefore, Wasserman (2006) argued that convergence is “a response to business needs,

not to journalistic ones.” A chilling idea is how media convergence might not be the goal but

rather just a phase in a future that holds no place for the traditional newspaper.

This fear is not unfounded.

The coming of new technology has always been heralded by fears that it would displace

the old. And questions about the future of the newspaper at the mercy of the internet find what

could be a chilling answer from two theories in media ecology: relative constancy (McCombs,

1972; McCombs & Nolan, 1992) and theory of the niche (Dimmick, 2003; Dimmick &

Rothenbuhler, 1984).

Relative Constancy

The principle of relative constancy argues that the mass media have become a “staple of

consumption” much like food and clothing (McCombs, 1972). Households devote a fixed portion


of their resources to mass media consumption. This allocation of resources, measured by

household expenditures, should be constant across time. Son and McCombs (1993) found that

the percentage of expenditure households devoted to mass media in the US from 1929 to 1974,

before and after the coming of Cable TV and the VCR, stayed constant. Though total

expenditures increased over time, the percentage devoted to media spending remained the same

(Son & McCombs, 1993). An implication of this principle is that when the consumption of one

form of media increases, then another decreases (McCombs & Nolan, 1992). The principle of

relative constancy, therefore, can be used to explore the future of both old and new media

(McCombs, 1972; McCombs & Nolan, 1992).

“Only a small and fixed proportion of the economy is available to finance mass

communication,” McCombs (1972) noted. The pie grew, but only at the same rate as the

economy did. “New media in the marketplace did not produce a bigger pie; instead the old pie

was re-sliced to feed the newcomer” (McCombs, 1972, p. 61). This has serious implications on

the future of the mass media as more new technologies come in. If money will not be an issue,

another will: There is only 24 hours in a day (McCombs, 1972). This competition among media

for a constant resource is parallel to competition among members of the population to occupy a

particular niche.

Theory of the Niche

The concept of the niche was adapted from ecology. In media economics, where media

organizations are considered as populations, niche refers to their relationship with the

environment, an important part of which are media consumers (Dimmick, 2003). Populations

compete for resources. No two truly separate channels can occupy the same niche (Dimmick,

Feaster, & Hoplamazian, 2011). For media organizations, the most important resources are


gratifications and gratification opportunities, for these drive media consumption in both time and

spending, and in turn advertising (Dimmick, 2003). Gratifications refer to those obtained from

the media while gratification opportunities refer to those that allow gratifications to be satisfied,

like time and space. When new media enter the population, they will have to compete for older

media for these resources. The degree of competition hinges on, among other factors, the overlap

between two or more niches. Dimmick (2003) outlined three possibilities when there is high

overlap: resources will be increased, a competitor might be displaced, or a competitor might be

excluded (Dimmick, 2003; Dimmick & Rothenbuhler, 1984).

However, new media succeed not because they provide more gratifications (e.g. need for

information or entertainment) but because they are superior in terms of providing gratification

opportunities (Dimmick, 2003; Dimmick, Chen, & Li, 2004). For instance, the internet is

considered superior over most daily news media because it is available at any time of the day and

anywhere (as long as there is internet access) (Dimmick, et al., 2004). Thus, a new technology

that is better at providing gratification opportunities might displace an old one that provides the

same gratifications but not the same gratification opportunities.

Media Displacement

Displacement refers to the “permanent replacement of one medium by another medium

over time for some specific functions of the medium” (Ha & Fang, 2012, p. 178). It is different

from substitution which tends to be temporary (Ha & Fang, 2012). But the concept of the new

displacing the old in the media is not new. Long before the coming of the internet, Lazarsfeld

(1940) pointed out that new inventions would lead to a “struggle for survival” (p. 259). That

time, Lazarsfeld (1940) was just talking about the radio. The fear was that radio, which provided

faster information delivery for free, would drive newspapers out of business. Though Lazarsfeld


(1940) found no evidence to support this first occurrence of the displacement hypothesis, the

same fear lingered with the coming of television.

Thus, two seminal works on television’s effects on children explored how it displaced

traditional media (Himmelweit, Oppenheim, & Vince, 1958; Schramm, Lyle, & Parker, 1961).

These large-scale studies compared media habits of children in areas in the US and Canada that

television had not yet reached (which Schramm and colleagues called Radiotown) with those of

children in areas that had just adapted the then new technology (called Teletown). Both studies

found support to the displacement hypothesis. Television reduced a whole range of activities:

comic book reading, movie-going and radio-listening (Schramm, et al., 1961). The radio was

relegated to specialized roles (Himmelweit, et al., 1958). When exposed to one medium, children

wanted less of the other (Himmelweit, et al., 1958). A reason is how television met the same

needs being fulfilled by these activities.

The coming of VCRs and Cable TV also displaced some of the expenses that used to be

just devoted to traditional media (Son & McCombs, 1993). New media technologies did not lead

to any increases in household budget allocations to media consumption, which remained constant

from 1929 to 1974 (McCombs, 1972; Son & McCombs, 1993). Instead, expenses devoted to

print declined as those devoted to audio-visual media increased (McCombs & Nolan, 1992).

However, Brown and colleagues (1974) argued that displacement did not necessarily lead to the

extinction of a medium but rather to “functional reorganization” where the introduction of a new

medium “creates a change in the communications environment” to which an individual would

adapt (p. 107). Another possibility is how old media use might be “redirected to different times

and places” (Newell, 2007, p. 16) instead of disappearing.


Studies on the effects of the internet on traditional media are not unanimous, although

most of them also found support for the displacement hypothesis. But even with studies that

supported the displacement hypothesis, it remained unclear which traditional medium was indeed

in danger (Lee & Leung, 2008). For some, it should be television, which was functionally similar

to the internet (Kayany & Yelsma, 2000; Venkatesh, Vitalari, & Gronhaug, 1985). But other

studies found that television use actually increased with internet use (Coffey & Stipp, 1997;

Kaye & Johnson, 2003).

Reasons for Displacement

Lee and Leung (2008) talked about two approaches in the study of displacement. A

medium-centric approach argues that functional similarity would play a big role in determining

which medium will be displaced. If a new medium is functionally similar to an old one, the old

one is in danger. For example, a study found that computing activities were more likely to

displace activities in the same environment, such as watching television which also occurs in the

home (Venkatesh, et al., 1985). In contrast, activities such as sports and socializing with friends

that are in a different task environment are likely to stay the same (Venkatesh, et al., 1985).

A user-centric approach argues that if a new medium fulfills the same set of gratifications

that an old one does, the new is likely to displace the old (Dimmick, 2003; Himmelweit, et al.,

1958; Schramm, et al., 1961). For example, a telephone survey found that gratification-seeking

motivations drove adoption of online service (Lin, 2001). Lee and Leung (2008) also predicted

that the internet would displace traditional media in the long term because “it intrinsically serves

the functions of traditional media better” (p. 154). But as Dimmick (2003) argued, new media

technologies displace old media not because of gratifications provided but because of providing

more opportunities to fulfill these gratifications. For instance, van der Wurff (2011) found that


online media’s displacement of traditional media was “a question of accessibility and habit

formation, rather than a matter of conscious choice for (new) media that serve the same user

needs better,” (p. 155).

Displacement effects also vary among individuals. For instance, highly educated users in

Sweden shifted to reading online news from print evening tabloids (Westlund & Färdigh, 2011).

Children also reported higher displacement effects than adults (Kayany & Yelsma, 2000).

Gender also influences media consumption patterns, although Westlund and Färdigh (2011)

found that men actually displayed complementing—instead of displacement—effects as they use

print and online together more than women. Thus, in this study, I shall control for the effects of

age and gender.

Media Saturation

The niche theory argues that when there is overlap between new and old media, a

possibility aside from displacement is an increase in resources to overcome the new. This is also

called saturation, or when there is “an overall increase in media consumption, as individuals

increased their consumption of some media while not reducing their intake of other media,”

(Newell, et al., 2008, pp. 133-134).

This is what Newell (2007) found in a revisit of the participants in Schramm and

colleagues’ (1960) original Radiotown. Through interviews with 28 of the original participants in

the earlier study, Newell (2007) found that neither did they give up radio for television, nor did

they substitute internet for television. A survey in the same community also found support to

media saturation (Newell, 2007). This has also been called as a complementary relationship

between old and new media. An early study on the effects of the internet found that internet users

continued to use television (Coffey & Stipp, 1997). A study also found that as far as news


consumption is concerned, a search about a specific content drives the consumption of news

types across different media (Dutta-Bergman, 2004). Online news is said to supplement

traditional news use (Althaus & Tewksbury, 2000). A recent study also found that different news

media occupy different niche based on time intervals (Dimmick, et al., 2011). For instance, the

newspaper’s niche is early in the morning at home, while the television’s niche for news is late

evening also at home (Dimmick, et al., 2011). In contrast, desktop and laptop computers fill the

niche for use at work (Dimmick, et al., 2011). Since these do not overlap, these news media can

exist together.

Displacement or Saturation

A possible reason for the conflicting findings about the relationship between new and

traditional media is how variables have been gathered and tested in different ways. A

straightforward technique to test displacement is to ask people if their use of traditional media

decreased when they started using the internet (e.g. Kayany & Yelsma, 2000; Kaye & Johnson,

2003). This kind of measurement, however, depends a lot on the accuracy of people’s perception

of their media habits. For an individual, remembering how many hours have been spent per

medium is already a challenge; remembering how much these consumption patterns have

changed will be more difficult.

Instead, other studies just measured use of different media and compared these using

correlations, taking a negative correlation with the internet as a manifestation of displacement

(e.g. Ha & Fang, 2012). This strategy does not depend on respondents’ own perception of how

much they decreased consumption of one medium because of a new one. This does not ascertain,

however, if this negative relationship is due to displacement or just due to a natural relationship

between two media serving different needs. It also does not rule out media saturation. Lee and


Leung (2008) argued that the use of absolute amounts of time in testing displacement was

problematic, especially if individuals begin with different media time budgets. The use of

absolute time will be more proper in longitudinal analysis, when individuals’ media consumption

patterns are monitored over time. Thus, each person serves as his or her own comparison. But

panel surveys are costly and thus rarely used in media research (Lee & Leung, 2008). The few

studies which used panel data had to rely on secondary data, gathered by companies for example,

and therefore measurement of variables are constrained to the companies’ original measurement.

These secondary data sets measure media use not in terms of number of hours, limiting the kind

of tests that could be ran (e.g. Newell, et al., 2008; Westlund & Färdigh, 2011).

Lee and Leung (2008) demonstrated that using absolute and relative proportions yielded

different conclusions. When they used absolute measures, results hinted at media saturation.

When they used relative measures, they found support for displacement effects. “It is important

to emphasize that the use of relative proportions of time spent on each medium can reflect more

accurately the impact of the new medium in displacing or supplementing the old media” (Lee &

Leung, 2008, p. 153). This current study, also constrained by the use of available data, uses

relative proportion measures.

I am using two national surveys conducted in the Philippines in 2003 and 2008 that

measured, among other things, self-reported media consumption. Using relative proportions

within a relatively constant resource, I hypothesize that:

H1. There will be no difference in the average total media score in 2003 and 2008.

H2. Controlling for age and gender, the proportion an individual devotes to internet use

will increase from 2003 to 2008.


H3. Controlling for age and gender, the proportion an individual devotes to each of the

following traditional media will decrease from 2003 to 2008:

a. Newspaper

b. Magazine

c. Movies

d. Radio

e. Television

Internet in the Philippines

Though most of the studies testing the displacement hypothesis looked at data from the

United States, they have not arrived at a uniform conclusion. A way to move this area of

research forward is to look at the experiences of other countries that might be different from the

United States and other developed countries in terms of how institutionalized internet has

become. This current study tests this hypothesis by looking at the experience of the Philippines, a

developing country with a vibrant media system known for its free press.

A recent report that looked at internet use in Southeast Asia estimated the internet

penetration rate in the Philippines at 33% as of October 2011 (Nielsen, 2011). The archipelago of

some 99 million people still does not have a national broadband system unlike its neighboring

countries. Still, this is a significant increase from an internet penetration rate that began at a

negligible 2.6% in 2000 and grew to only about 14.6% in 2008 ("Philippines: Internet Usage

Stats and Marketing Report," 2009).

These numbers do not tell the bigger picture, however, that internet users in the

Philippines are very active users. Filipinos have won numerous international competitions—from

beauty pageants, search for picturesque sites and even an international network’s search for


modern day heroes—where winners are chosen through internet voting (Anda, 2009; CD, 2008;

Inquirer, 2009). The internet is also made more relevant by the huge and growing population of

Filipinos working outside the Philippines, pegged at 10 percent of the national population, who

communicate with relatives back home through email and social networking sites (Karan,

Gimeno, & Tandoc, 2009). Filipinos are also among the most active Facebook users around the

world (Morrison, 2010).

Method

This study is based on a trend analysis using data from the Philippines’ National Statistics

Office (NSO). The NSO conducts a Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey

(FLEMMS) every five years. I obtained data sets from 2003 and 2008. The earlier data sets were

no longer available.

FLEMMS uses a stratified, three-stage cluster sampling. First, the NSO randomly selects

primary sampling units (PSUs) composed of a barangay (village) or a group of barangays.

Second, it randomly selects enumeration areas (EAs) or areas with discernible boundaries with

about 350 contiguous households within each PSU. Finally, 30 housing units are selected

through systematic random sampling within each EA. All households in the sampling housing

units are interviewed. The NSO records information per household and per individual. For this

study, I am using only the individual responses in both surveys. The 2003 FLEMMS data set had

76,100 individuals (10-64 years old) while the 2008 FLEMMS data set had 60,817 individuals

(10-64 years old).

Media Use

A disadvantage of using secondary data is how researchers are constrained with the

original measurement used for the variables under study. The media use questions in both 2003


and 2008 are similar and asked respondents to rate in a 4-point scale how often they used

different media. I am focusing on traditional media—newspaper, magazine, movies, radio and

television—and new media, which is basically the internet. However, the 4-point scales in those

years were slightly different in their qualitative meanings (see Table 1). In order to have a

meaningful comparison of 2003 and 2008 data, I recoded the scores using a common 3-point

scale that was still meaningfully faithful to the original scales. Working with the constraints of

secondary data ensures that we maximize valuable data obtained through systematic sampling

rather than ignoring their contributions to answering relevant questions that could advance our

understanding of the changing media terrain.

Consistent with Lee and Leung’s (2008) argument that using absolute scores might not

capture the real underlying relationship among media uses, I use relative proportion measures.

This required three steps. First, I calculated a total media score per respondent by adding their

ratings of each medium. This should resemble a total media consumption pie, although I was

mindful of the limitations of how the data was originally measured which was not in number of

hours, and so I am considering them as total media scores. In an ideal world, use of each medium

would have been measured in terms of number of hours in a typical day. Since use of a medium

might overlap with another, total number of hours spent across different media would not be

reflective of the total media consumption pie, For instance, I can say I spend four hours watching

television on a typical day and four hours using the internet. It does not mean that I use the two

media for a total of eight hours, especially if I go on Facebook while watching Glee. Since time

of the day is a limited resource, using total number of hours per day as a reference point will be

appropriate in calculating the proportion of time devoted to each medium. Since I am using


secondary data, I do not have this luxury. Using total media score as a reference point will

approximate this kind of conceptualization.

The second step is to account for the proportion each individual devoted to each medium.

This is calculated by getting the percentage of one’s rating of one medium out of one’s total

media score. This is again an imprecise measure, as I am using the total media score as a proxy

for total resources devoted to media use. I argue that this is a meaningful measure considering

that the recoded scale does not refer to number of hours but to meaningful categories in terms of

frequency of use that range from seldom to everyday. Finally, I compared the proportions of

media use between 2003 and 2008 using Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA).

Sample

The average age in the 2003 sample is 30.08 years (SD = 14.9). The sample is almost

evenly split in terms of gender (50.6% males). In terms of using particular media every day,

television ranked first (73.1% said they used it every day). For the 2008 sample, the average age

is 30.56 years (SD = 15.31). The sample is again almost evenly split in terms of gender (49.5%

males). In terms of using particular media every day, the percentage for almost all media

decreased, except for internet which slightly increased to 8.1% (see Table 2).

Results

I ran a MANCOVA to test differences between 2003 and 2008 media usage while

controlling for the effects of age and gender. The overall MANCOVA revealed a significant

multivariate main effect for year, Wilks’ λ = .892, F (6, 70,853) = 1425.98, partial eta squared =

.11. Age significantly and positively predicted all media consumption patterns. Older people tend

to consume more media, whether traditional or new. Females also spent more time reading

newspaper, reading magazines, and watching movies than males did.


H1 predicted that total media score from 2003 to 2008 will remain constant. Controlling

for age and gender, H1 is not supported. There is a significant difference in total media scores

between 2003 and 2008, F (1, 70,858) = 4,490.58, p < .001. The average individual’s total

media score actually decreased from 11.47 (SD = .01) in 2003 to 10.26 (SD = .01) in 2008 (see

Table 3).

H2 predicted that the proportion of internet use in the total media score will increase from

2003 to 2008. H2 is supported, F (1, 70,858) = 1,632.18, p < .001. The proportion of internet use

increased from 11.67 (SD = .03) in 2003 to 13.04 (SD = .02) in 2008 (see Table 3).

H3 predicted that the proportion of traditional media use in the total media score will

decrease from 2003 to 2008, a manifestation of media displacement. H3a is supported, F (1,

70,858) = 1,820.55, p < .001. The proportion of newspaper use shrank from 16.08 (SD = .03) in

2003 to 14.37 (SD = .03) in 2008.

H3b is also supported, F (1, 70,858) = 353.27, p < .001. The proportion of magazine use

also shrank from 16.50 (SD = .03) in 2003 to 15.70 (SD = .03) in 2008.

Likewise, H3d is supported, F (1, 70,858) = 564.02, p < .001. The proportion of radio

use also declined from 21 (SD = .04) in 2003 to 19.71 (SD = .03) in 2008.

However, H3c and H3e are rejected. The proportion of movie-going increased, contrary

to expectations, from 11.85 in 2003 (SD = .03) to 12.34 (.02) in 2008, F (1, 70,858) = 220.4, p <

.001. Likewise, the proportion of television use increased, also contrary to expectations, from

22.9 (SD = .04) in 2003 to 24.85 (SD = .03) in 2008, F (1, 70,858) = 1432.43, p < .001 (see

Table 3 for the comparisons).

In summary, the study found that while the proportion allocated to internet use grew

while those allocated to newspaper, radio and magazine use shrank from 2003 to 2008 as


expected, the proportions allocated to movie-going and television watching actually increased.

An equally intriguing finding is how the total media score did not remain constant, but even

decreased from 2003 to 2008.

Discussion

The results hint at a possible displacement effect of the increasing proportion of total

media use devoted to internet on the proportion devoted to newspaper, magazine and radio.

However, the results also showed an increase in the proportion devoted to movie-going and

television use. In this section I will try to explain these findings and offer a different way of

looking at the phenomenon of media displacement and its consequences.

First, the data showed a slight decrease in the total media score from 2003 to 2008.

Again, I recognize the limitations of how the total media score is calculated, but a quick

comparison with the percentages of everyday users of each medium clearly shows a decrease in

almost all media, except internet and movie-going. This confirms the pattern that emerged in the

comparison of total media scores. This finding is counter-intuitive. The principle of relative

constancy, and hence displacement, would have expected no change. The media saturation

hypothesis would have expected an increase. It is possible, however, that the decrease is due to

an increasing overlap between new and old media use. For instance, in its infancy internet was

probably being used for purposes different from those served by television or newspaper. Thus,

each medium might have contributed unique proportions to the total media score. However,

when internet gained mainstream status and began to serve some of the functions previously

exclusively served by traditional media, the proportion of internet use might not have changed,

but its actual uses might have expanded to include those previously served by traditional media.

If this is true, then the proportion devoted to internet use might stay the same, or increase only


marginally, but those devoted to other traditional media might decrease because the same

proportion devoted to the internet is already serving multiple previously traditional-media bound

uses. Thus, total media score will decrease. This is what the data showed.

Second, the data showed a decrease in the proportions devoted to newspaper, magazine

and radio. This is a possible indication of a displacement effect. The changes are tiny, but again

this is because of the limitation of how the variables were originally measured. Still, the use of

relative proportions strengthens the argument that a possible displacement effect was at work. An

interesting finding, however, is that these decreases are amid the increase in movie-going and

more so for television use. These findings do not support the media saturation hypotheses as the

data showed a decrease in three traditional media. But if displacement was at work, how come

two traditional media increased in terms of relative proportions?

When resources devoted to an old medium are displaced by a new one, these resources

are not necessarily redirected to the new medium that caused the displacement. The findings

support this assumption. A similar concept is what Brown and colleagues (1974) called

“functional reorganization,” although they used the concept to refer to a child’s potential

response when the larger communications environment shifts. Within the context of media

displacement, functional reorganization could also mean a reallocation of the relatively constant

resource (e.g. limited hours of a day) not only to the new medium but also to those which survive

the displacement. This is what the findings hint at and what I shall call as redistribution that

accompanies displacement. Thus, future studies on media displacement can also look at factors

that bring about redistribution of sources to, instead of extinction of, particular media.

An advantage of the internet is not only providing the same gratifications but providing

more opportunities for these gratifications to be fulfilled. The internet could provide the


opportunity to fulfill almost simultaneously various gratifications that used to be fulfilled by

different tools and devices. This multi-functionality of the internet should also be considered as

an agent of displacement, on top of providing the same sets of gratifications as traditional media

and of providing more opportunities to fulfill these.

Television remains to be a strong institution in the Philippines. Filipino soap operas still

reign supreme. Time is a gratification opportunity. But so is immediacy. As long as television

still provides popular and exclusive content, which might be uploaded online but much later than

the actual broadcast on free TV, it would still maintain its hold of relative resources. Movie-

going is also an experience more than just access to content. The act of going out and staring at a

big screen (and for some, wearing 3D glasses) is also an activity that is functionally unique.

Thus, movie-going is among the activities located in a different “task-environment” that

Ventakesh and colleagues (1985) found to be immune to the displacement by the internet—or

maybe at least for now.

Conclusion

Using secondary data is a clear limitation of the study, although using national surveys

with representative samples provide a generalizable peek into the changing media consumption

patterns in the Philippines. A panel study would have yielded more control. However, I chose to

take advantage, rather than dismiss, systematically obtained secondary data to contribute in our

understanding of the changing media system and turn this area of research into a more

encompassing, rather than a Western-centric, discourse.

It is also possible that other contextual factors influence the degree of displacement and

redistribution that the findings revealed, but this study’s findings are also consistent with

previous studies that looked at how media displacement occurred in other countries (e.g. Kayany


& Yelsma, 2000; Kaye & Johnson, 2003; van der Wurff, 2011; Westlund & Färdigh, 2011). The

differences observed in the findings are very small. However, these are differences in

proportions and not in absolute measures. There is no way to translate these relative proportions

into number of hours, primarily because of how media use was originally measured. I will argue,

however, that these small differences in proportions translate into significant percentages of

resources, which in the future can be measured either by time or money spent (of course

television and radio offer free access, but resources for these media could be measured by

attention that translate into advertising potential which is the lifeblood of the media; the internet

also offers free access to content, but internet access to begin with also incurs expenses). A way

to move the research forward is to continue examining the pattern in the next few years as the

internet continues to assert and expand its own niche in the media environment. For instance,

Lee and Leung (2008) argued that the internet is more likely to displace than supplement the

traditional media and that the “full array of its effects is yet to be seen” (p. 154).

The results, therefore, do not displace the displacement hypothesis.

Instead, they confirm the fears about the future of the traditional print medium: the

proportion of total media use devoted to newspaper and magazine experienced not only the

displacement effects by the internet, but also the subsequent redistribution of some of the

displaced resources to movie-going and more so to television. In terms of business ramifications,

more research should be devoted to re-conceptualize the principle of relative constancy as also

referring to advertising. Advertising sustains most media organizations (Curran, 2010; Lippman,

1922; McManus, 1992). Is the advertising pie constant, or do companies increase their resources

to accumulate new media platforms for advertising?


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Table 1

Merging Different Scales

Score

2003

2008

Merged

1

Seldom/Not at all

Not at all

Seldom/Not at all

2 Once a week Seldom Once a week or more

3 Twice or thrice a week At least once a week Everyday

4 Everyday Everyday


Table 2

Percentage of Everyday Users

2003

2008

Newspaper

21.6%

12.6%

Magazine 24.2% 16.5%

Movies 5.3% 5.8%

Radio 58.9% 36.7%

TV 73.1% 64.6%

Internet 6.9% 8.1%


Table 3

Comparison of Means

2003

2008

F–value

Means

SD

Means

SD

Newspaper

16.08

.03

14.37

.03

1,820.55

Magazine 16.50 .03 15.70 .03 353.27

Movies 11.85 .03 12.34 .02 220.4

Radio 20.99 .04 19.71 .03 564.02

Television 22.90 .04 24.85 .03 1432.43

Internet 11.67 .03 13.04 .02 1,632.18

Total Media Score 11.47 .01 10.26 .01 4,490.58

Note. The estimated means have been controlled for the effects of age and gender. Statistically

significant differences were found across all dependent variables based on year.

Displacing the Displacement Hypothesis? Does the Internet Really Displace Traditional Media?

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