Increased Media Consumption Habits Are Here to Stay, With Traditional TV on the Backslide
Last year was a record year in terms of time spent with media, with even traditional TV seeing a boost after steadily declining since 2012. Media consumption flourished across the board, and the increase in time spent with media is here to stay, with adults adding 9 minutes in consumption after adding more than an hour last year.
Digital media is to thank for the sustained growth, while on the other hand, traditional TV is on the decline and estimated to drop below pre-pandemic levels. eMarketer predicts that the “average time spent with traditional media will decrease by 5.7% in 2021, a decline largely attributable to people spending less time watching traditional TV.”
While the growth in consumption slowed this year, the modest increase, after a record-breaking year spurred by a global pandemic, signals a strong future ahead for digital media consumption.
From eMarketer:
This year, US adults will add an average of 9 minutes to their daily time spent with digital media—even after adding more than an hour (1:01) in 2020.
Increases in digital media time spent will be modest this year and through 2023, given how much growth was unexpectedly pulled forward into 2020. Average time spent with digital media will increase by 2.0% year over year (YoY) in 2021, a deceleration from 2020’s 14.8% surge.
