A. Guttmann
Research Lead covering media
Media usage worldwide - statistics & facts
Money drives media consumption. When it is scarce, consumers tend to cut down on non-essentials. While entertainment tends to remain an essential for a long time, consumers eventually reach the point where they decide to revise the number of media sources. As it is, more than half of adults worldwide express frustration with paying for multiple content platforms which leads to either contract cancelations or searching for cheaper entertainment alternatives. The latter solution lies in ad-supported subscriptions.
In this very competitive market, media providers will need to make certain strategic choices, not only to attract new users but also to retain their current ones. Stepping ahead of consumer expectations, industry leaders must continue to bet on digital but most importantly on affordable and balanced offerings. Media users today are likely to choose free offers (which means ad-supported) or bundles, to maximize their variety of entertainment and minimize the cost. This is the most likely future of media consumption.
Media consumption made affordable with support of ads
Streaming platforms, both music and video, are opting for a marriage of convenience with advertising, creating ad-supported tiers to tap into new markets and subscribers who may otherwise not be able to afford their products. Netflix and Disney+ are prominent examples of this move, but others follow suit. In the world of audio for example, Spotify is experiencing steady growth in ad-supported subscribers. Free-ad-supported-TV is another sign of changing media consumption habits. The growing popularity of FAST is spelling value growth for the market. By 2028, FAST is expected to generate revenue of over 17 billion dollars, the majority of it in the United States.Subscription market in flux
Bundling is at the forefront of consumers' minds and subsequently part of media companies’ strategies. Seeing that close to three-quarters of global consumers have already canceled at least one content subscription service, leading media executives are looking for solutions to counteract subscriber loss. This is particularly important for SVOD platforms, where high-priority types of bundles include bundling with other SVOD services, broadband and pay TV packages, and mobile providers. Interestingly, certain categories of media and entertainment seem to be immune to this trend for now. When it comes to news subscriptions, consumers would rather their current number, and music services, especially Spotify, tend to see growth in sign-ups.Media users are on the internet
Sending e-mails, searching on Google, and streaming content of any kind – these and many more activities happen on the internet worldwide in just one internet minute in a day. In fact, global internet users spend a quarter of the day online. Social media as well as video and audio streaming, in particular, are popular pastimes. Online gaming is also more prevalent, and consumers are experimenting with different ways to play, such as via cloud gaming services which allow cross-platform gaming on the consumer’s device of choice. Globally, a third of gamers play on mobile devices for up to seven hours per week. In fact, a lot of media consumption happens on smartphones these days, showing the entertainment is not only digital, but mobile.In this very competitive market, media providers will need to make certain strategic choices, not only to attract new users but also to retain their current ones. Stepping ahead of consumer expectations, industry leaders must continue to bet on digital but most importantly on affordable and balanced offerings. Media users today are likely to choose free offers (which means ad-supported) or bundles, to maximize their variety of entertainment and minimize the cost. This is the most likely future of media consumption.
