According to Veronis Suhler Stevenson's Communications Industry Forecast, the time Americans spend consuming media has declined for the third year in a row. Although the declines are modest - dropping just 0.1 percent in 2006, 2007 and 2008 - they suggest that the shift toward digital technology is enabling consumers to compress the amount of time they spend accessing and consuming media.
The declines reflect the shift from traditional media, especially print media such as newspapers, magazines, and books, though even traditional TV usage is projected to decline this year. The main issue is that it takes longer to read a book, newspaper or magazine or to watch a TV show than to get information or watch videos on the web. VSS EVP James Rutherfurd terms this the "efficiency effect" of digital media.
"A consumer looking for news can, in ten-minutes online, capture what probably took 40-minutes to do with a traditional newspaper," Mr. Rutherfurd told MediaPost. "I think what you will see is that the time spent with new media obviously is increasingly, but the total time spent with media is not."
The trend certainly complicates efforts by brands to reach consumers through broadcast TV and radio stations, consumer magazines, and especially newspapers.
This year, VSS, a media private equity firm, projects that the amount of time the average American will spend consuming media will decline 0.1 percent to 3,493 hours. Besides the digital media multitasking, the declines reflect a diversion from media platforms such as dial-up internet access that VSS said are becoming "obsolescent."
Time spent with media that have a digital component, however, is expected to climb. For example, time spent on the internet will surpass recorded music as the third most used medium after television and radio. Next year, people will devote more time to video games than to books. In 2010, games will surpass consumer magazines.
Regarding advertising spending, the report noted that this year will mark the first time in U.S. history broadcast television will get more advertising dollars than newspapers. By 2012, however, internet advertising will take over as the leading generator of advertising revenue. According to VSS, internet advertising will boast an 18.9 percent compound annual growth rate from 2007-12, compared with 2.6 percent for broadcast TV and negative 2.8 percent for newspapers.
Discussion Question: Will consumers be able to exert significantly greater control over media consumption in the digital age? How will it affect brand communications? Will out-of-home advertising, for example, become a bigger vehicle for brand communications?
- Long Growth Streak of U.S. Communications Spending Will Continue in 2008, Despite Severe Economic Headwinds and Declining Traditional Advertising Sector - Veronis Suhler Stevenson
- Digital Compression: Time Spent With Media Continues To Ebb - MediaPost Publications
- Ad spending forecast to shift more to direct marketing - USA Today