Author(s):
Quico, Célia 
; Damásio, Manuel José ; Henriques, Sara ; Veríssimo, Iolanda
Date: 2012
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10437/2930
Origin: ReCiL - Repositório Científico Lusófona
Subject(s): TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION; DIGITAL TELEVISION; TELEVISION AUDIENCES
Description
In order to conduct a successful transition from analogue terrestrial television to full digital terrestrial
television it is essential to identify what are the most significant drivers and barriers for adoption among the impacted population. Also importantly, it is to segment the population according with their
attitudes towards digital TV, their awareness about the switchover process and intention of adopting digital TV, among other relevant topics.
The tradition of profiles definition based on the adoption and rejection of innovations can be traced back to Beal & Bohlen, who proposed five categories of innovation adopters based on the time of
adoption, with significant differences in selected personal and social characteristics: the innovators, the
early adopters, the early majority, the majority and non-adopters. Later, Rogers would propose similar
categories of adopters that became the standard for years to come: the innovators, the early adopters,
the early majority, the late majority and the laggards.
While helpful, these traditional innovation adopters’ profiles do not totally grasp the complexities of
the adoption of an innovation such as digital TV, particularly in mandatory settings. In this paper we
will propose a classification of adopters of digital TV in Portugal, based on the results of one of the four empirical studies of the research project ADOPT-DTV, namely, the quantitative inquiry administered to a representative sample of the Portuguese population. The paper will be concluded with a brief discussion of results and the enumeration of the next steps of the research project.
