Media Sources Time Spent 2011 – TV Still Leads While Mobile Jumps

Omri Shabath

There is no doubt that people today, in the digital era, are spending more time than ever with the varied media sources every single day. But what are the leading media sources that people spend most time with and what are the trends and directions we are heading to?

A new 2011 report from eMarketer that examined the day-by-day media sources usage by U.S. adults in 2011 has revealed that people are spending 11 hours and 33 minutes every day on average with all media sources, representing a 5% increase from 2010 report where the daily average was 11 hours.

Media Sources Time Spent

As you see (and like last year), TV and video (on a traditional television) are still the leading media sources where U.S. adults are watching them for 4 hours and 34 minutes on average every day, representing 3.8% increase (or 10 minutes) from last year’s stats.

The second most popular media source is the Internet where people are spending 2 hours and 47 minutes every day online on average, representing a 7.7% increase from last year. The third most popular media source is the radio with 1 hour and 34 minutes, a decrease of 2 minutes from last year.

Mobile has made the biggest jump this year, after people have spent 1 hour and 5 minutes on average every day with it, while last year people have spent only 50 minutes with mobile devices (30% increase). Newspapers (26 minutes every day on average, down from 30 minutes last year) and magazines (18 minutes every day on average, down from 20 minutes last year) have continued their gradual decline.

Media Sources Ad Spending Share

Apparently, there are many differences between the media sources time daily time spent and the advertisers ad spending on the different media sources. The actual media sources daily time spent share by U.S. adults isn’t synchronized with the media sources ad spending share.

Media Sources Share Vs Ad Spending Share

“Under-Perform” Media Sources:

  • Internet – 25.9% Time Spent Share, 21.9% Ad Spending Share
  • Radio – 14.6% Time Spent Share, 10.6% Ad Spending Share
  • Mobile – 10.1% Time Spent Share, 0.9% Ad Spending Share

“Over-Perform” Media Sources:

  • Newspapers – 4% Time Spent Share, 15% Ad Spending Share
  • Magazines – 2.8% Time Spent Share, 9.7% Ad Spending Share