• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer, June 11, 2015

According to the Media Consumption Forecasts, a new report by ZenithOptimedia, people will spend an average of 492 minutes a day consuming media in 2015, up 1.4% from 485 minutes a day in 2014. This increase will be driven by the rapid growth in Internet use, which will increase by 11.8%.

 The Media Consumption Forecasts study surveys the changing patterns of media consumption in 65 countries across the world, assessing how the amount of time people allocate to different media will change between 2014 and 2017. The report looks at the amount of time spent reading newspapers and magazines, watching television, listening to the radio, visiting the cinema, using the Internet, and viewing outdoor advertising while out of the home.

Global media consumption increased from an average of 461.8 minutes a day in 2010 to 485.3 minutes a day in 2014, an increase of 5.1%, or an average of 1.2% a year, says the report. Over these years, the amount of time people spent using the Internet nearly doubled from an average of 59.6 to 109.5 minutes a day, while time allocated to more traditional media shrank from 402.2 to 375.8 minutes. Mobile technology in particular has created new opportunities to consume media while out and about.

 The report says that, between 2014 and 2017, the amount of time spent consuming media around the world will increase by an average 1.4% a year, reaching 506.0 minutes in 2017. Meanwhile, Internet consumption will grow by 9.8% a year to reach 144.8 minutes a day. The Internet’s share of overall media consumption will rise from 12.9% in 2010 and 22.6% in 2014 to 28.6% in 2017.

 While the Internet has propelled growth in overall media consumption, it has also eroded the consumption of traditional media, says the report. The consumption of every traditional medium except outdoor fell between 2010 and 2014, directly because of competition from the Internet, and the study expects that decline to continue to 2017.

 Newspapers have suffered the most from competition from the Internet, followed by magazines. Between 2010 and 2014 the average time spent reading newspapers fell by 25.6%, while time spent reading magazines fell 19.0%. Television consumption fell by just 6.0%.

Between 2014 and 2017, the report says that newspaper consumption will shrink by an average of 4.7% a year, while magazines and TV shrink at average rates of 4.4% and 1.6% respectively in time spent with these media in their traditional forms: printed publications and broadcast programs watched on television sets. Any time that consumers spend with broadcasters’ and publishers’ online brand extensions is included in the Internet total.

The amount of time people are exposed to outdoor advertising increased by 1.2% between 2010 and 2014, from 106.0 to 107.2 minutes a day. This is the result of several factors: more displays being built in public spaces, migration to cities in emerging markets, and consumers’ greater willingness to spend their leisure time out of the home as their disposable income recovered after the financial crisis, says the report. Between 2014 and 2017 the report forecasts exposure to outdoor advertising to increase by 0.2% a year.

 Despite its recent, relatively minor, decline, television remains by far the most popular of all media globally, attracting 183.9 minutes of consumption a day in 2014. Internet consumption came a distant second at 109.5 minutes a day. Television accounted for 42.4% of global media consumption in 2010, and 37.9% in 2014, and it will still account for more than a third (34.7%) by 2017, says the report.

Jonathan Barnard, ZenithOptimedia’s Head of Forecasting, says “… the average person… spends half their waking life consuming media… people around the world are… hungry for more opportunities to discover information, enjoy entertainment and communicate with each other… and new technology… enables brands to communicate with and learn from consumers in new ways…  media consumption… (is expected) to continue to grow for the foreseeable future… multiplying opportunities for brands to develop relationships with consumers… ”

For more information from ZenithOptimedia please visit here.