A cross-media study of audience choice: The influence of traits, needs, and attitudes on individual selection of 'media repertoires'

This dissertation research is an exploration of individual media usage in the new media environment. The study expanded the work of previous media usage researchers by offering a cross-media framework of media usage that was empirically tested and included new variables relevant to the current new media environment. Grounded in the uses and gratifications research tradition, individuals in this study were viewed as actively using the media to satisfy their entertainment and information needs. The research asked how individual demographics variables together with level of innovativeness, needs and attitudes toward media influence patterns of media usage. Individual attitudes and behavior with television, radio, newspaper, magazines and the internet were measured. In this study, the general media usage framework was divided into an entertainment media usage version and an information media usage version. Survey data was collected in the Fall of 1998 via the internet. The sample was drawn from the population of University of Texas undergraduate students.;The most important conceptual variable introduced in this study was the "media repertoire." Media repertoire is the collection of media sources that an individual consistently selects to satisfy needs. As an extension, an entertainment media repertoire is the collection of media sources that an individual consistently selects to satisfy entertainment needs. An information media repertoire is the collection of media sources that an individual consistently selects to satisfy information needs.;This study concluded that media attitudes of helpfulness, accessibility and time efficiency were related to general, entertainment and information media repertoires. The majority of respondents had 3 sources in both their entertainment and information Media Repertoires. Television was a top source for both entertainment and information satisfaction. Newspapers ranked last for entertainment satisfaction, but first for information In addition, it appears that the dense media environment of college students makes accessibility to all media relatively easy compared to the satisfaction, helpfulness and time efficiency of the media once they are accessed.