Young Media Consumers Spend More Time With Online Video, Gaming, Social Media, Less With TV, Movies

• by Wayne Friedman , 4 hours ago

Young media consumers continue to spend more time with online video, gaming and social media, and less time with traditional screen-based TV series and movies, according to a new study from Hub Entertainment Research.

Nearly 60% of the “screen-based leisure time” for 13- to-24-year-old viewers comes from gaming (25%), online videos (19%) and social media (13%).

For those ages 35 and older, gaming, online videos, and social media come in at a total of 28% -- 11% for gaming, 10% for online video and 7% for social media.

TV and movie consumption comprise only 25% of screen time for 13- to-24-year-olds, versus those 35 and older, where the percentage is 60%.

Looking more broadly across all media consumers, Hub says, online video, gaming and social usage usage is up 37% in 2021, versus 32% in 2020.

Traditional TV/movie consumption is at 48% in 2021 down from 53% in 2020.

Hub says 13- to-24-year-olds watch almost as much online video as traditional TV -- 13.7 average hours per week (online), and 15.3 average hours per week (TV), due to the variety of screen options for young media consumers. Fifty one percent of those 13-24 point to this.

“The million-dollar question is whether today’s young consumers will always prioritize non-traditional content — or whether they’ll start to resemble older consumers as they grow older,” says Peter Fondulas, Hub principal and co-author of the study, in a release.

“Our prediction is that their behaviors are so ingrained that non-traditional content will always be a significant part of their entertainment consumption.”

The research was conducted among 2,179 US consumers ages 13-74, who watch at least one hour of TV per week and have broadband service.

The data was collected in December 2021.