Screen time anyone?

According to Zenith’s Media Consumption Forecasts, people from all over the world will spend an average of 800 hours using mobile Internet this year – equivalent to 33 days without sleep or without stopping.

By 2021, the total will increase to 930 hours or 39 full days. This is the fifth edition of Media Consumption Forecasts, which analyzes the changes in media consumption patterns since 2011 and forecasts how, between 2019 and 2021, the time that people spend on different media will change. In the 57 countries surveyed, people will spend a total of 3.8 trillion hours using the mobile Internet this year, reaching 4.5 trillion hours in 2021.

The average time that people around the world spend accessing the mobile Internet has increased from 80 to 130 minutes per day. An average of 13% per year, driven by the availability of smartphones, faster connections, better screens, and application innovation. However, now, growth is decreasing as most people in the developed world who want a mobile device have it, and the property is becoming common in emerging markets. We estimate an average of 8% annual growth in time spent on mobile internet devices between 2018 and 2021.

We expect the use of the mobile Internet to represent 31% of global media consumption in 2021, with an increase of 27% this year. Television continues to be the most popular global media Television continues to be the world’s leading medium, with 167 minutes of viewing each day in 2019. Television viewing is projected to slow down slowly to 165 minutes a day by 2021. Television will continue being the world’s preferred medium in all our forecasts, representing 33% of total media consumption in 2021, down from 35% in 2019.

The mobile Internet has reduced the amount of time people spend with the rest – though not all – of some media. Between 2014 and 2019, the average time devoted to reading newspapers was reduced from 17 minutes a day to 11, while the time dedicated to reading magazines decreased from 8 to 4 and the time spent watching television was decreased from 171 to 167. The use of the Internet through the desktop computer has also reduced, from 47 minutes a day to 40. However, the “appetite” of consumers for radio and cinema has remained firm, increasing radio listening from 53 minutes to 55 and the time devoted to cinema has increased, on average, from 1.8 minutes to 3.0 minutes a day.

It is crucial to bear in mind that, in this report, the time devoted to newspapers and magazines only includes the time spent on the printed editions. Consumers will spend 800 hours using their mobile internet devices this year. The time spent on online platforms, owned by publishers or radio channels, is taken into account as Internet consumption.
However, some studies already point to a change of positions between television and the Internet. The data analyzed are about a sample of the US market indicate that in 2019, adults will close the year having spent more time on the screen of their phones than watching TV.

The rise of mobile times and the crisis of traditional TV explain this change. The television will close the year with 3 hours and 35 minutes per day of media viewing. According to eMarketer, mobile devices will manage to reach 3 hours and 43 minutes, which represents an increase of 3.7% year-on-year.

From this time, 70% will go to the specific screen of a smartphone. Total media consumption increases to eight hours a day. Mobile Internet has increased the time spent by people consuming media: consumers will spend an average of 479 minutes per day with media this year, rising from 420 minutes in 2013. By 2021, we foresee that the average consumer spends 495 minutes a day consuming the different media. “Mobile Internet technology has increased both the time that people spend with the media and what counts as a means, properly speaking,” said Jonathan Barnard, Head of Forecasting at Zenith. “The media now means comparing prices on the street, sharing jokes with friends, and booking your next vacation, opening up new opportunities for brands to connect with consumers.”
Matt James said, “Today’s marketing requires investing in talent and technology to unlock the value of the data and create personal brand experiences.”