US Media Consumption (2021–2025)
There’s no denying the media has a huge influence on our lives. As an ecommerce business owner, it’s crucial to understand how consumers are engaging with it, beginning with media consumption and how it’s evolving over the years.
More importantly, knowing your target audience’s time spent with media—whether it’s digital or traditional—will help you better understand where you should focus your marketing efforts.
Media consumption: time spent on digital media
According to the latest media consumption statistics, US consumers have been spending increasingly more time consuming digital media year after year.
In 2021, the US population spent an average of 421 minutes per day consuming digital media. This comes up to seven hours and one minute. This figure rose by 4.3% in 2022, to 439 minutes (or seven hours and 19 minutes), before rising another 3.4% in 2023, spending 454 minutes (seven hours and 34 minutes) a day watching digital media.
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Digital media consumption is forecast to increase in 2024 and hit 466 minutes, or seven hours and 46 minutes. Analysts predict it will rise by another 12 minutes in 2025 to seven hours and 58 minutes, as digital media consumption inches toward the eight-hour mark.
A breakdown of the total time spent with digital media among US consumers shows that the majority of this is spent on mobile devices. This does not refer to voice calls, but other activities like listening to different types of audio, using social networks, and watching videos. This is followed by desktop or laptop use.
Media consumption: time spent on traditional media
The increase in time spent on digital media has come at the expense of traditional media. Statistics show that in contrast with digital media, time spent with traditional media among US consumers has largely been falling.
In 2021, the average time spent with traditional media came in at exactly 300 minutes a day, which translates to five hours. A year later, this figure fell by seven minutes to four hours and 53 minutes. In 2023, consumers spent 277 minutes (four hours and 37 minutes) a day on traditional media—16 minutes per day less compared to the previous year.
This year, traditional media consumption is expected to continue to decrease. According to experts' forecast, the average time spent on it is projected at 268 minutes (four hours and 28 minutes), before falling to 258 minutes (four hours and 18 minutes) in 2025.