• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, April 30, 2015

According to new figures from eMarketer, adults in the US will spend an average of 5 hours, 31 minutes watching video each day this year, and digital video viewing across devices is driving the growth. In 2011, time spent with video on digital devices (PCs, mobile devices and other connected devices including over-the-top [OTT] and game consoles, totaled 21 minutes daily. This year, US adults will spend an average of 1 hour, 16 minutes each day with video on digital devices.

Meanwhile, the average time US adults spent watching video programming on Stelevisions totaled 4 hours, 35 minutes in 2011 and will decline to 4 hours, 15 minutes in 2015.

Paul Verna, senior analyst at eMarketer notes that  “… the increase in overall screen time highlights the complexity of today’s media ecosystem… the reality is that digital video is growing not at the expense of TV, but because video content is more popular than ever...)

Video is seeing gains on all digital devices this year, with the exception of desktops and laptops, which will remain flat, says the report. Time spent watching video on mobile devices will increase from 30 minutes daily among all US adults in 2014 to 39 minutes per day this year, and average daily video time on other connected devices across the US adult population will increase from 9 minutes last year to 13 minutes each day in 2015.

In 2015, 40.2% of US major media ad spending will go to TV, totaling $70.59 billion, compared with TV’s 36.4% of time spent with media daily. Meanwhile, US advertisers will allocate just 4.4% of all spending, or $7.77 billion, to digital video ads, even though consumers are now spending nearly 11% of their media time watching video on digital devices.

Verna said “…advertisers continue to trust TV despite its limitations… and despite a proliferation of digital alternatives… the resilience of TV comes from… marketers’ concerns that digital video ads aren’t always viewable or watched to completion…”

Consumers’ appetite for digital devices is driving this trend. Led by time spent on mobile devices, US adults will spend an average of 5 hours, 38 minutes with digital media each day in 2015, up from 5 hours, 15 minutes in 2014.

Last year, US adults spent more time on mobile devices than they did on PCs for the first time, and that gap will widen this year. Furthermore, the average time adults spend each day with TV, radio and print will decline across the board for the fourth consecutive year in 2015, concludes the report.

For additional information from eMarketer, please visit here.