Tech pundits are fond of predicting that new internet-based media options will supplant the old. All the cords will soon be cut. NBC will give way to Netflix. Gamers will all be watching ESPN on their PlayStations. Data shows that when Americans access news, information or entertainment, however, it’s not a zero-sum affair.
In just two years, the average time American adults spend each day with new internet options—game consoles, streaming devices such as AppleTV and Roku and app/web access on smart phones and tablets — has increased 61 percent from 2 hours and 16 minutes in 2014 to the 3 hours and 39 minutes, according to the Nielsen Total Audience Report for the second quarter of 2016. Therefore people are spending more time on line watching TV than actually network TV.
But all this growth of the new did not come at the cost of the old. The time spent with traditional electronic media—TV, DVRs, DVDs and AM/FM radio—has slipped only by 11 minutes in an average day in the last two years to 6 hours and 38 minutes in the second quarter of 2016. The data suggests that new technologies aren’t replacing the old, they’re keeping people connected to media longer.
Two years ago, American adults spent an average of 9 hours and 5 minutes each day with the information and entertainment options outlined in the Nielsen Total Audience Report. Today, as the subscriber base of over-the-top media services and other options has grown, Americans are spending an average of 10 hours and 17 minute each day with both the traditional electronic media and the new internet-enabled media. That’s an increase of 12 percent.
Some of the 43 minute per day increase in smartphone usage over the last two years is due to a methodological enhancement adopted in March 2016. If they’d used the same methodology through the first half of 2016, smartphone usage would have been up approximately 38 minutes over the 2014 measure. That’s a somewhat less but still substantial share of the increase for network-enabled media.
Source: US Telecom Media
