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Zenith forecasts decline in traditional media consumption as internet use soars

Zenith forecasts decline in traditional media consumption as internet use soars

A new report from ZenithOptimedia has forecast that, between 2014 and 2017, global internet consumption will grow by 9.8% a year to reach 144.8 minutes a day – eating further into traditional media.

The amount of time spent consuming media around the world will increase by an average of 1.4% a year, reaching 506.0 minutes in 2017, with the internet’s share of overall media consumption set to rise from 12.9% in 2010 to 28.6% in 2017.

The consumption of every traditional media – including newspapers, magazines, TV, radio and cinema – fell between 2010 and 2014, directly because of competition from the internet, and Zenith expects their decline to continue to 2017. Only outdoor managed to buck the trend.

Newspapers – only in their printed form – have suffered the most from competition from the internet, followed by magazines. However, any time that consumers spend with broadcasters’ and publishers’ online brand extensions is included in the internet total.

Between 2010 and 2014 the average time spent reading newspapers fell by 25.6%, while time spent reading magazines fell 19.0%.

Television consumption fell by just 6.0%. Between 2014 and 2017 Zenith expects newspaper consumption to shrink by an average of 4.7% a year, while magazines and TV will shrink at average rates of 4.4% and 1.6%, respectively.

The amount of time people are exposed to outdoor advertising increased by 1.2% between 2010 and 2014, from 106 to 107.2 minutes a day.

This is the result of several factors the authors conclude: more displays being built in public spaces, migration to cities in emerging markets, and consumers’ greater willingness to spend their leisure time out of the home as their disposable income recovered after the financial crisis.

Between 2014 and 2017 Zenith expects exposure to outdoor advertising to increase by 0.2% a year.

Despite its recent, relatively minor, decline, television remains by far the most popular of all media globally, attracting 183.9 minutes of consumption a day in 2014. Internet consumption came a distant second at 109.5 minutes a day.

Television accounted for 42.4% of global media consumption in 2010, and 37.9% in 2014. Zenith suggests it will still account for more than a third (34.7%) by 2017.

“The average person already spends half their waking life consuming media,” said Jonathan Barnard, ZenithOptimedia’s head of forecasting.

“But people around the world are clearly hungry for even more opportunities to discover information, enjoy entertainment and communicate with each other, and new technology is supplying these opportunities.

“Technology also enables brands to communicate with and learn from consumers in new ways. We expect media consumption to continue to grow for the foreseeable future, multiplying the opportunities for brands to develop relationships with consumers.”

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Sue Todd, CEO, Magnetic, on 02 Jun 2015
“We always welcome insight into our changing media habits, but positioning the internet as a medium in its own right is misleading. Magazine media is not battling against the internet - rather the technology opens the opportunities for consumers to engage with our content across multi platforms, which is fully embraced by our stakeholders. The growth in internet is an opportunity for magazine media, reflecting our own studies which show there is a growing demand for magazine media content from consumers across many channels.”
Liz Jaques, Communications Manager, Newsworks, on 01 Jun 2015
“It's a shame that this report refers to "traditional media" in their most simplistic form - rather than taking into account their digital platforms and audiences.

Newspapers, like other so-called traditional media, exist across multiple platforms including print, mobile, tablet and online - and have for a long time, which is why we call them newsbrands. Readers are accessing their content on different devices, but it is still the same content – journalism that is written, curated and paid for by publishers.

On that basis, it's strange to talk of "competition from the internet" - the internet has provided lots of opportunities for newsbrands to grow and expand their offering, as well as reach audiences around the world. In the UK alone, total readership (across platforms) is up to 44.3 million a month and time spent with newsbrands is around 67 minutes a day on average, according to TouchPoints.

The AA/Warc Expenditure Report has gone some way to correctly attributing digital ad spend to brands, rather than platforms, and provides a helpful, unspun picture – hopefully our industry's leading forecasters will follow.”

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