MUMBAI: Despite the growth explosion in the digital and mobile universe, the age-old medium of television continues to lead the popularity chart when it comes to consumption, according to ZenithOptimedia’s Media Consumption Forecasts report.

Attracting 183.9 minutes of consumption a day in 2014, television, despite its recent relatively minor decline, by far remains the most popular of all media globally.

On the other hand, Internet consumption came a distant second at 109.5 minutes a day. Television accounted for 42.4 per cent of global media consumption in 2010, and 37.9 per cent in 2014 as per the report, generated after surveying the changing patterns of media consumption in 65 countries across the world. The report also predicts that television will still account for more than a third (34.7 per cent) by 2017.

Internet disrupting traditional media with its robust growth

While the internet has propelled growth in overall media consumption, it has also eroded the consumption of traditional media. The consumption of every traditional medium except outdoor (i.e. newspapers, magazines, television, radio and cinema) fell between 2010 and 2014, directly because of competition from the internet, the report predicts their decline to continue to 2017.

Newspapers have suffered the most from competition from the internet, followed by magazines. Between 2010 and 2014, the average time spent reading newspapers fell by 25.6 per cent, while time spent reading magazines fell 19 per cent. Television consumption fell by just six per cent. Between 2014 and 2017, newspaper consumption is expected to shrink by an average of 4.7 per cent a year, while magazines and TV will shrink at average rates of 4.4 per cent and 1.6 per cent respectively.

Internet consumption to grow at 10 % p.a, expanding overall consumption

Global media consumption increased from an average of 461.8 minutes a day in 2010 to 485.3 minutes a day in 2014, an increase of 5.1 per cent, or an average of 1.2 per cent a year. Over these years, the amount of time people spent using the internet nearly doubled from an average of 59.6 to 109.5 minutes a day, while time allocated to more traditional media shrank from 402.2 to 375.8 minutes. Mobile technology in particular has created new opportunities to consume media, by allowing people to access the internet while out and about – shopping, commuting to work, waiting to meet friends, and so on.

The report forecasts that, between 2014 and 2017, the amount of time spent consuming media around the world will increase by an average 1.4 per cent a year, reaching 506.0 minutes in 2017. Meanwhile, internet consumption will grow by 9.8 per cent a year to reach 144.8 minutes a day. The internet’s share of overall media consumption will rise from 12.9 per cent in 2010 and 22.6 per cent in 2014 to 28.6 per cent in 2017.

Exposure to outdoor advertising is rising

The amount of time people are exposed to outdoor advertising increased by 1.2 per cent between 2010 and 2014, from 106.0 to 107.2 minutes a day. This is the result of several factors 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, exposure to outdoor advertising is expected to increase by 0.2 per cent a year.

Latin Americans spend the most time with media; Asia Pacific the least

Media consumption is highest in Latin America, where people spent an average of 744 minutes consuming media in 2014, and lowest in Asia Pacific, where consumption averaged just 301 minutes that year. Time spent consuming media in Asia Pacific is growing well ahead of the global average, however, as economic development gives people access to more media, and more leisure time in which to consume them: media consumption expanded by 6.7 per cent in 2014. The report forecasts average annual growth of 2.9 per cent to 2017.

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