Ofcom report: Ethnic minorities embrace technology
Consumers from ethnic minority groups are among the keenest in Britain when it comes to embracing the latest technology, new Ofcom research reveals.
Not only do people from ethnic minority groups say they love gadgets more than the British population as a whole (37% compared with 30%), they�۪re also more likely to say it�۪s important that their homes are equipped with the latest technology (32% compared to 20%). This rises to almost a half (47%) of those in the ‘Asian Indian’ group.
Ofcom’s research, which supports its duty to have regard to the different ethnic communities within the UK, gives an overview of use of and attitudes towards communications services among ethnic minority groups in Britain. It compares the largest ethnic groups: ‘Asian Pakistani’, ‘Asian Indian’, ‘Asian Bangladeshi’, ‘Black Caribbean’, ‘Black African’, ‘Mixed Ethnic Groups’ and ‘Other White’ with ethnic minority groups combined and the British population as a whole.
Broadband and Mobile Phones
Most ethnic minority groups are more likely to have a broadband connection at home, particularly among the ‘Asian Indian’ group (82% compared with 71% of the British population).
Mobile phones are generally more important to people in ethnic minority groups than the wider British population. More than half of the Mixed Ethnic (57%), ‘Asian Pakistani’ (58%), ‘Asian Bangladeshi’ (57%), ‘Black African’ (56%) and ‘Asian Indian’ (54%) groups say they could not do without their mobile phones, compared with 43% of the British population.
TV Viewing
TV and radio consumption varies widely across the different ethnic minority groups. Those in the Asian Indian group are less likely to own a TV and watch TV than the British population as a whole. Eighty-two per cent of ‘Asian Indian’ people say they own a TV and 93% say that they watch TV, compared with 96% and 99% of the British population respectively.
Across all ethnic minority groups included in the research, a smaller proportion say they have a TV at home compared to the British population as a whole (90% compared to 96%). Half of those in the Asian Bangladeshi group (50%) have just one TV in their home, compared with a quarter (26%) of the British population.
One in five (19%) of those in the Black Caribbean group watch more than 40 hours of TV a week, compared with 15% of the British population. A quarter (26%) of the British population say that watching TV is their favourite pastime, much lower than the ‘Asian Pakistani’ group (41%), ‘Asian Indians’ (40%) and ‘Asian Bangladeshis’ (38%).
More than a third of the ‘Asian Bangladeshi’ and ‘Asian Pakistani’ groups (36% and 35% respectively) and 30% of the ‘Asian Indian’ group say that they rely on TV to keep them informed. This compares with a British average of 25%.
Larger proportions of ethnic minority groups view TV on demand on their computers and mobile phones. While fewer than one in five (18%) of the British population had used a computer to view TV on demand, as many as a quarter (25%) of the ‘Asian Bangladeshi’ group said that they viewed TV in this way.
Radio Listening
Listening to the radio is generally less popular among ethnic minority groups, with 40% of ‘Asian Bangladeshis’ tuning in weekly, compared with 79% of the British population.
A third (30%) of adults in the British population say they have a DAB radio at home, compared with 7% of those in the ‘Asian Bangladeshi’ group.
