eMarketer: Digital becoming most-used medium

A report from eMarketer indicates that the amount of time that U.S. Adults spend with media is increasing, and that the combined digital channels has overtaken TV as the medium that they spend the most time with.  The eMarketer report is based on a meta-analysis of some 140 studies from more than 40 research institutions.

The report indicates that U.S. adults spend an average of just over 12 hours a day with various media (the report counts each medium separately, even if the user is multitasking with other media).  If you look at individual channels, TV remains the medium adults spend the most time with (4 hrs, 31 min in 2013), but the combination of general online channels (PCs, laptops) and mobile (smartphones, tablets) is surpassing TV in time spent with media.  The report indicates that in 2012, the average total time with digital fell just shy of the average time with TV (by 7 minutes).  Print's downfall continues, with the average time spent with print media in 2014 projected to be only half of the time people spent with print in 2010, and its share of time spent with media dropping to 3.5%.  The decline is seen in both newspapers and magazines (slightly slower decline for magazines).

Interestingly, the growth in the amount of time spent with media appears driven by mobile.  According to the study, mobile is the only channel expected to consume more of users time, on average, in 2014.  The results didn't indicate whether the overall time gain was likely due to the continuing adoption of mobile media, increased usage by mobile owners, or some combination of factors.

The report also notes that in studies of time spent using media, that video consumption through digital channels remains small compared to traditional TV (in 2013, four and a half hours for TV, 44 minutes for digital).  Even there, however, all of the projected gain in usage in 2014 comes from the mobile sector, which eMarketer projects growing 50% in that year.

The report also looked at the amount of time U.S. Adults spend with social media, projecting that people will spend an average of more than an hour a day using social media.  In 2014, mobile usage overtakes online usage (average of 35 minutes a day for mobile, and 32 minutes a day for online).  Breaking down mobile, smartphones still dominate use over tablets.

Source -  Mobile Continues to Steal Share of US Adults' Daily Time Spent with Media, eMarketer