Media. Sometimes it feels like you can’t live with it but you sure as hell can’t live without it. As the number of devices and channels proliferate, it will become harder and harder for brands to cover every avenue, forcing marketing teams to be more decisive and analytical about the choices they make regarding their resources and budgets.
So with traditionally fickle consumers indicating a predictable shift in preferences and habits for the year to come, what media consumption trends will marketers need to factor in as they draft up their strategies for 2023?
Media Consumption Trends 2023
1. No slowing down for digital
In 2020, the average consumer spent 474 minutes a day on digital media. Let’s break that down. 7 hours and 54 minutes. Every single day. Basically a third of their life.
By 2023, that number’s going to climb even higher.
With experts predicting that the average consumer will spend upwards of 500 minutes on digital media next year, this is a prime time (or arguably, long past it) for brands to get serious about their online presence beyond the website. But with the landscape already partially dominated by digital native brands, those joining the party a bit later will need to consider their strategy carefully; room for trial-and-error will be more limited and best practices should be implemented from the off in order to compete.
2. Print approaches flatline
One media channel we’ll see particularly struggle in 2023 will be print. Having limped along for years now, the era of newspapers and magazines appears even closer to its end with our research finding that just 26% of consumers would consider turning to the channel for shopping inspiration – a number that drops even further to a mere 19% when you funnel the data down to Gen Z.
While only a decade ago consumers still spent 448 minutes a day on traditional channels such as print, by 2023 research indicates that figure will have dropped by almost 40% – part of a decline that shows no sign of slowing.
In theory, this shouldn’t come as news to brands with only 12% reporting that print was a primary marketing channel for them in 2022. And yet research shows that almost half a billion pounds will still be invested in magazine advertising in the UK alone in 2023. As the world contemplates the impact of further recessions, this is a discrepancy brands simply can’t afford and could indicate wider concerns around the channels to which marketers are allocating budget.
Learn more about how marketers tackled channel choice and influencer marketing in 2022…
3. Mobile rules all
By 2023, smartphones will account for 35% of all media consumption with the majority of that consumption (and the time spent on smartphones generally) taking place on apps (so if your brand doesn’t have one already, it might be time to get one!)
Such is our dependence on our handheld devices, that in the second quarter of 2022 US consumers made more than double the number of visits to ecommerce websites from their mobile than they did their desktop. And while undoubtedly some pockets of shopp