A report has estimated that 2019 will be the year in which internet media becomes more popular than television as the most used form of media consumption around the world.
According to data from media firm Zenith, next year will see us spend nearly three hours (170.6 minutes) a day on average taking in media from the internet. This is a fraction more than the 170.3 minutes we will spend watching TV, making the web the most popular way to consume media for the first time.
The main reason for the shift from the box to the net is the growth in mobile internet over the course of this decade. Zenith calculates that media consumption per day is projected to be 504% higher in 2019 than it was in 2011. By 2020, the report estimates that mobile will be responsible for 28% of media.
Via desktop, consumption has dropped over the same period, but only by a comparatively small 18%, showing that our total use of the internet has rocketed over the last seven years. This might lead to expectations that people are leaving the television switched off, but the data suggests that TV media consumption rates have remained relatively steady, falling by only 4% since 2011.
For the study, “internet consumption” included reading newspaper websites online and, crucially, watching video on the likes of YouTube and Netflix. With many people using their computer or mobile device ahead of their television to watch their favourite programmes on demand, a gradual shift towards internet becoming top dog is perhaps unsurprising.
Indeed, many people might be surprised to find that TV still holds strong at present, but there remain significant numbers both in the UK and elsewhere who rarely or never use the internet. As a result, the overall average is still leaning in television’s favour, and in fact, Zenith does not expect internet to top it in Europe until after 2020. The same is true in Latin America and continental North America. In the Middle East and North Africa, however, the net is already ahead.
In total, Zenith estimates that we will spend a daily average of 479 minutes consuming media. This includes not only internet and TV, but also printed media, radio and cinema. By 2020, it is expected that this figure will have increased to 492 minutes per day, passing the eight-hour mark.
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