According to Nielsen’s U.S. Entertainment Consumer Report, consumers in households earning an average annual income of $66,000 account for more than 70% of spending on entertainment, like
books, video-on-demand and music. Not only did the survey find that these high entertainment spenders have more discretionary income than low or moderate spenders, they also participate in more
entertainment activities. This group is also more likely to be female, ethnically diverse and have young children in their household.
Since there are a finite number of hours in a day, high
spenders that enjoy an array of activities will ultimately be limited in how much time they dedicate to each. In that way, content providers and advertisers have a slightly larger window of
opportunity to engage with moderate and low spenders, says the report.
All three segments spend the most time each week playing video games and listening to music, with low spenders clocking
the most time at nearly nine hours. Low spenders also spend the most time perusing print books, magazines or newspapers (5.3 hours per week, on average) and watching mobile video (3.4 hours), while
moderate spenders find more time to read content online (4.8 hours) and watch DVDs/Blu-rays (4.7 hours) and video-on-demand (4.6 hours).
Report highlights include:
- High
entertainment spenders are taking part in a larger variety of activities, giving them less time to spend on each.
- Home entertainment consumers are embracing digital at a higher rate than
ever before, as we see double-digit percentage increases in both one-time purchases and content subscriptions.
- Even with a preference for physical books, print book buyers are still just as
engaged as their e-book-buying counterparts online.
The high entertainment spender is the ultimate home entertainment consumer, representing a third of the U.S. population and
accounting for over 70% of spending across entertainment categories TV, music, books, home video, games, and mobile. High entertainment spenders are more likely than moderate and low entertainment
spenders to be female, ethnically diverse and have young children in the household.
Entertainment Spenders |
| High Entertainment Spenders
| Moderate Entertainment Spenders | Low Entertainment Spenders
|
Average Household | | | |
Income | $66K | $51K | $52K |
Female | 53% | 50% | 46% |
Teens | 5% | 8% | 19% |
Hispanic | 19% | 11% 1 | 0% |
Other (neither Caucasian nor African-American) | 26% | 16% | 15% |
Kids under age 6 in the Household | 24% | 17% | 17% |
Source:
Nielsen, May 2013 |
High Spenders
Engage In More Activities But Spend Less Time On Each (Hours Spent In A Week) |
| Entertainment Spenders |
Activity | High spenders | Moderate | Low |
Playing video games | 5.9 | 7.6 | 8.9 |
Listening to music | 4.3 | 5.1 | 6.1 |
Reading magazines, books or newspapers in print form | 3.8 | 5.0 | 5.3 |
Watching DVD/ Blu-rays | 3.5 | 4.7 | 4.2 |
Attending live events | 3.4 | 3.5 | 2.9 |
Reading magazines, books, newspapers or blogs on a device or online | 3.4 | 4.8 | 4.4 |
Watching video-on-demand | 3.3 | 3.6 | 3.5 |
Watching mobile video via internet | 2.1 | 2.5 | 3.4 |
Source: Nielsen, May 2013 |
High Spenders’ Share Of Total Entertainment Dollars By Category
- Video-on-demand or pay-per-view
79%
- Video games 76%
- Music 78%
- Satellite radio subscription 70%
- Feature films on dvd, blu-ray or video buying or renting 71%
- Magazine, book or
newspaper purchases or subscription fees 70%
Compared to the average adult online, digital music buyers are 45% more likely to be aged 25-34, while those who purchase physical CDs are
most likely to be between 35 and 44 years old. Internet users who purchase digital music are also more likely than the average adult online to be Asian (8% more likely) and Hispanic (5% more
likely).
U.S. Music Buyers (Among Adults Online, Index V. U.S.
Internet Users 18+) |
Physical CD Buyers |
Race/Ethnicity | Index |
African- American | 102 |
Asian | 91 |
Hispanic | 95 |
White | 101 |
Age | |
18-24 | 98 |
25-34 | 94 |
35-44 | 111 |
45-54 | 109 |
55-64 | 106 |
65+ | 72 |
Gender | |
Female | 111 |
Male | 88 |
Digital Music Buyers |
Race/Ethnicity | |
African-American | 100 |
Asian | 108 |
Hispanic | 105 |
White | 99 |
Age | |
8-24 | 131 |
25-34 | 145 |
5-44 | 142 |
45-54 | 90 |
55-64 | 56 |
65+ | 24 |
Gender | |
Female | 106 |
Male | 93 |
Source:
Nielsen, May 2013; Read as: Adult internet users who purchased physical CDs are 11% more likely than the average U.S. adult online to be female. |
18-24
year olds are driving music consumption in the U.S., and spend more than 6 hours per week listening to music – about a full hour more than adults.
Streaming Listeners to Music (2012) | |
Overall | 37.0B |
Songs on-demand (chosen by the listener) | 24.0B |
Songs programmed (chosen by The service) | 6.1B |
Video on-demand | 6.9B |
Source: Nielsen, May 2013 | |
Airplay |
Source | 2012 | % Change vs. 2011 |
Radio plays(terrestrial and satellite) | 161.0m | -.02% |
TV video plays(music video channels) | .70m | -.07% |
Source: Nielsen, May 2013;
(Includes music streams from: Akoo, Guvera, MediaNet, Rhapsody, Rdio, Slacker, Spotify, Thumbplay, VEVO, Yahoo!, and others. YouTube data was integrated into Nielsen’s music streaming
measurement in January 2013.) |
29% of consumers are likely to purchase new music after hearing it through a streaming service
On-Demand Music
Streamers Social And Spend Big; Compared to the average U.S. Internet user, on-demand music streamers are:
- 90% more likely to be heavy spenders on music
- 75% more likely to
follow a brand on a social network
- 91% more likely to post links, articles, videos or web sites on a social network
- 96% more likely to follow a celebrity on a social network
- 50%more likely to be heavy spenders on event tickets
Music
Streamers (Index vs.Online) |
Group | % Of On-Demand Music
Streamers | Index V. Online 18+ |
Age |
18-24 | 19.0% | 163 |
25-34 | 23.8 | 129 |
35-44 | 20.8 | 108 |
45-54 | 19.2 | 96 |
55-64 | 10.9 | 66 |
65+ | 6.3 | 44 |
Gender |
Female | 50.1 | 93 |
Male | 49.9 | 108 |
Ethnicity |
African-American | 12.1 | 105 |
Asian | 4.2 | 130 |
Hispanic | 13.7 | 110 |
White | 75.0 | 97 |
Source: Nielsen,
May 2013; Read as: Nineteen percent of on-demand music streamers are aged 18-24, 63 percent more likely than the average adult online to be this age) |
Social media has increasingly become an important platform for music artists and labels to share and promote their music to the masses. In the U.S., consumers are highly engaged with music content
on social sites such as Facebook and Twitter. A Nielsen survey of music consumers found that more than half (55%) read Facebook posts from artists and bands on their mobile device and 26 percent keep
up with those artists’ tweets
Social Engagement With Music On Mobile (% of consumers who use Facebook and Twitter to follow artists/bands)
- 55% Read Facebook posts from
artists/bands
- 53% “Like” Facebook posts from artists/bands
- 30% Comment on Facebook posts from artist/bands
- 28% Click on posts from artist/bands from Facebook
timeline
- 26% Read tweets from artist/bands
- 15% Share posts from artist/bands
- 14% Retweet artist/bands
Brand endorsements in an endorsement campaign
with a music artist has been shown to increase buy rates of a product by as much as 28% among the artist’s fans. An endorsement campaign by an artist has been shown to increase a brand’s
market share by as much as 2.4 points among the artist’s fans:
Percent Of Consumers Who Will Try A Product If They Sponsor An Event For An Artist They Like |
Age | % of Respondents |
Teens | 31% |
18-24 | 24% |
25-34 | 26% |
35-44 | 18% |
45-54 | 13% |
55+ | 10% |
Source: Nielsen, May 2013; |
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