oday, young
people under 25
account for half of
the world’s
population, and as
such represent one
of the key priority
audience target groups for many
development, policy and media
organisations, including
international broadcasters.
Furthermore, the vast majority
(85%) of the world’s youth under
25 live in developing countries,
which are also considered as
markets with the most potential for
future media audience growth.
Therefore, understanding youth in
these societies, their information
needs and media, communication
and technology habits, is today
more vital than ever before.
However, despite this growing
urgency, little remains known
about what information these
young people prioritise in their
lives, how and where they obtain it,
and which sources they value the
most. This represents a significant
impediment to formulating
effective communication strategies
of organisations looking to enter
these markets or strengthen their
engagement with the youth.
Even when reliable and robust
data on the media behaviour and
patterns in these markets are
available, the youth is often treated
as one homogenous population
category, with little consideration
for the diversity that exists within
this group, and the implications of
such diversity for audience
engagement strategies.
To fill this data gap and obtain a
deeper and more nuanced
understanding of youth in these
markets, InterMedia launched a
new research initiative entitled
Young Publics
in 2012, focused on
young people aged 16‐25 living in
under‐researched societies. The
initiative is designed to collect
detailed data on young people’s
media, communication and
technology habits, their personal
values, life priorities, social and
political attitudes, as well as to
obtain a deeper understanding of
the inter‐dependence of these
factors.
The first study in the Y
oung
Publics
initiative was completed in
2012 in Iran and generated valuable
insights for those designing media
and communication strategies
targeting Iranian youth.
Youth in Iran is not a uniform, but
rather, a very diverse group within
Iranian society
Segmentation analysis of the data
collected on young people’s
personal values and beliefs
expressed in the survey revealed
four very distinct segments of the
youth, which were labelled as Non‐
Traditionalists, Mainstream,
Conservatives and Ultra‐
Conservatives. These four segments
differ not only in terms of their
underlying personal values, life
priorities and social and political
views, but are also distinct in terms
of their media and communication
habits.
Young Iranians’ priorities revolve
around livelihood issues rather
than political topics
Young people in Iran are primarily
focused on their education, future
job prospects and their ability to
support their families. Political
issues do not seem to be top of their
agenda, suggesting that
information focusing on economic
issues is likely to generate more
interest and response than content
focused on political themes.
Iranian national media remain the
main source of news and
information for the country’s youth
Iran is a TV society and national
television remains the most used
media source for news and
information among all segments of
the youth. However, perceptions of
trustworthiness of information
conveyed by national TV channels
vary greatly between the different
segments, with Non‐traditionalists
expressing the most scepticism
about the reliability of news content
on these channels.
Liberal youth is the most reliant on
newmedia for news and information
Non‐Traditionalists are the heaviest
users of blogs, social media and the
internet in general for news and
information. They are also the only
segment of Iranian youth that finds
information obtained via the
internet more trustworthy than the
information received via traditional
media, which is partially a
reflection of their greater concerns
about their inability to express
themselves freely in public places
of the “offline” world.
Despite heavy media use, word-of-
mouth remains important
Friends and family, in particular,
remain a core source of news and
information for many young
Iranians. The
Iran Young Publics
study shows that 74% of all Iranian
16‐25 year olds turn to friends and
family for information on current
affairs on a weekly basis.
NOONE SIZE FITS ALL
These insights have significant
implications for any media and
communication strategy targeting
youth and indicate the importance
of taking into account the
considerable diversity in
information needs and media and
communication patterns within this
population group.
While the results presented here
are based on the study conducted
in Iran, it is likely that a similar
diversity of the youth would
emerge in other country contexts,
although the number of youth
segments and their profile is likely
to differ from those found in Iran.
When communicating with youth,
no one size fits all ‐ regardless of
the country context ‐ and only
communications strategies that
build on this understanding and
are informed by robust data on the
information needs and media and
communication habits of the
precise target groups are likely to
be effective in the long‐term.
■
T
Last year, globally-engaged
research and evaluation consulting
group InterMedia launched an
initiative focused on 16-25 year
olds living in under-researched
societies. Research Associate
Cathryn Moses and Interim COO
Klara Debeljak sum up their
findings for Iran
MEDIAAND YOUTH IN
IRAN
58
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ISSUE 2 2013
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THE CHANNEL
