A new report from ZenithOptimedia reveals that more than eight hours a day is now spent consuming media but traditional media is losing out to the Internet.
Across the globe people now spend, on average, a little over half their waking hours consuming media of some sort or another – that’s just over 8 hours. That figure is up 1.4% on 2014 when 485 minutes each day was spent consuming media.
It’s no surprise that the Internet has driven this increase, but mobile has also played a significant role by allowing people to access the Internet while on the go.
Since 2010, the time spent using the Internet has nearly doubled from an average of 59.6 minutes a day to 109.5, while time spent with traditional media has fallen from 402.2 minutes to 375.8. ZenithOptimedia forecasts that the Internet’s overall share of media consumption will rise from 2014’s 22.6% to 28.6% by 2017.
Meanwhile, the consumption of traditional media (excluding outdoor) has fallen with print newspapers, followed by print magazines, suffering the most. In the four years to 2014, time spent reading newspapers dropped by 25.6% and magazines by 19%. In the same period, time spent watching television dropped just 6%. However, despite this fall, television continues to be the most popular media accounting for 183.9 minutes each day compared with 109.5 minutes for Internet.
According to ZenithOptimedia’s head of forecasting, Jonathan Barnard, “people around the world are clearly hungry for even more opportunities to discover information, enjoy entertainment and communicate with each other, and new technology is supplying these opportunities. Technology also enables brands to communicate with and learn from consumers in new ways. We expect media consumption to continue to grow for the foreseeable future, multiplying the opportunities for brands to develop relationships with consumers”