Nielsen: Media time stays level; youth lags; TV suffers


Nielsen released its Q3 2018 Total Audience Report, measuring share of media and time spent with different media categories. The key takeaway is that total media in Q3 was exactly the same (on average) as the previous year’s Q3. So, as media use has spread out to dayparts and environments where it didn’t live before, perhaps a stasis has been reached. That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for media use to expand even more — especially as smart speakers insinuate themselves into households.

In the meantime, the Q3 report documents 10 hours and 30 minutes of average media time across TV (live and time-shifted), radio, DVD/Blu-Ray, game consoles, “internet connected device,” computer internet, phone app, and tablet app. the Total Audience Report is a mix of media categories (basically TV and radio) and delivery platforms.

There are a couple of interesting differences year-over-year. Radio lost average time-spent per day in all age groups, especially 35-49 and 18-34. Both those groups piled more time into computer and app usage (not necessarily audio on those platforms). The 65-and-over cohort held fairly steady in radio use, and also added 18 minutes a day with mobile apps. There was no major drop in that group, indicating consistent (and presumably eager) media consumption across types and devices.

The most punishing metric falls on “Live + Time-Shifted TV,” which lost 23 minutes a day in the 18-34 group, dropping that share from 27% to 22% of their time spent.

Brad Hill