Millennials Consumed By Media, But Boomers Even More

COMMENTARY

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 6 hours ago

Daily media time for U.S. adults keep climbing. But one interesting note: Millennials still consume less than older consumers.

The latest Nielsen Total Audience report -- the second quarter of this year -- shows obvious trends for those 18-34 years old. This includes lots of time with digital media stuff, smartphones, tablets, and computers and somewhat less with traditional, legacy media -- TV and terrestrial radio.

But when looking at total media time, young media consumers' daily media usage is much lower overall versus older demographic groups.

Media users ages 18-34 spent 8 hours/45 minutes a day with media -- lower than the 11 hours/9 minutes a day for those between the ages of 35 to 49 compared to 12 hours/50 minutes for those 50-64; and 12 hours/16 minutes for those 65 years and older.

Versus all other demographics groups, those 18-34 spend more time with smartphones, at 2 hours/34 minutes (a 29% share) -- than live TV plus time-shifted TV viewing at 2 hours/17 minutes (a 26% share).

So what are young media consumers doing with the rest of their time -- working, non-working, gazing into space? Perhaps there are more face-to-face conversations going on. Good for them.

That said, overall media time for all adults is rising. Time spent across all media for U.S. adults grew 19 minutes -- 13 minutes for digital media platforms and five minutes more for TV-connected devices.

Is there a silver lining in all of this? For advertisers, there would seem to be a big opportunity. But as we all know, media users seek more ad-avoidance efforts across all platforms.

Strong advertising proponents say this is a relatively easy remedy: Find new ways of messaging, such as native advertising, sponsored content and branded entertainment.

The bigger worry for media owners in the future, in an increasingly niche media world, is finding new (young and older) media consumers and higher usage for their platforms.

But what about time away from the media -- traditional, digital, artificial and tangential? New technologies for those off-the-grid?

It seems holograms are the only way around this -- in front of your windshield, sunglasses, and perhaps infiltrating your brain waves via your dreams. After all, ad-blockers are for wimps.