Traditional vs. digital media consumption rates shifting

Median consumption behaviors are changing

Global Web Index (GWI) has released their annual report detailing the difference in media consumption behaviors from consumers. It examines how media consumption is evolving globally, across age groups, and between countries. It also gives insight into how traditional media forms, like radio, television, and press, differ from those online.

Consumers were asked to estimate how much time they devoted daily to the following activities: internet usage (PC, laptop, tablet), television, radio (traditional or online), press (traditional print and online), gaming (via consoles), and social networking.

On a typical day, internet users now spend over six hours online

Smartphones are becoming ever more prominent within this; since 2012, daily time using the mobile web has jumped from 1.24 to 2.01 hours, with the share of internet time captured by smartphones rising from 22% to 33%. In regard to age, 16-24s are the heaviest daily users of the mobile web, clocking up 3.25 hours.

Compare this to the 55-64 age group who only clocks a modest 0.58 hours and we can begin to understand why mobile usage is on the rise: the younger generation enjoys their mobile devices.

Traditional still beats digital

Surprisingly, traditional media remains ahead of digital in just seven of GWI’s 34 markets. The US, Australia, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany are the only countries rebelling against the global digital trend, at least in terms of media consumption.

American consumers, in fact, watch more television than their counterparts in any other market. Elsewhere, the relative lack of enthusiasm for social networking is a major contributor.

The least surprising statistic in the report, at least in my opinion, is the time consumers spend on social networking has increased from 1.61 hours to 1.77 hours. This makes it by far the most popular online activity accounting for nearly 30% of online time.

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