How are consumers in Australia and worldwide looking to consume media in the next year?

In Australia, digital media, in-person events and video streaming are set to see the biggest increase in consumption over the next year

The impact of major global events like the easing of the global pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis have presented new challenges for the media industry. But how have global consumers adjusted their engagement with information and entertainment in these times, and how are they likely to evolve their media consumption patterns?

YouGov’s latest whitepaper for the media sector reveals that though global annual penetrations across all media types are almost identical between current and intended behaviour, younger adults appear to present a loyalty challenge for marketers and advertisers.

YouGov’s stickiness metric (which measures those who claim to have maintained or increased their consumption of each media type in the last 12 months, and are likely to maintain or consume more in the next 12 months) finds those aged 18–24 to be less loyal and less likely to stick with their media choices than older generations. This is especially so for more traditional media activities such as listening to the radio (77%), reading a newspaper or magazine (82%), and watching live (77%) and non-live TV (74%).

The report, titled The Global Media Landscape – What does the future hold?, combines recent YouGov research in 18 international markets to investigate the future of the media landscape, as well as attitudes to sustainability in advertising.

Turning specifically to future media consumption in Australia, the biggest opportunity for brands and marketers appears to lie in digital media as well as in-person events, with close to three in ten residents expecting to increase activity over the next 12 months (28% each).

Streaming video (27%), interacting with social media (24%) and watching movies at the theatre (24%) are set to see the next biggest increase in consumption, although the increase in theatregoing is offset markedly as two in five others say they will do less of the activity (19%). Music streaming is also set to see a notable increase, with just under a quarter expecting to do more if it in the next twelve months (23%).

Want to uncover other insights and see how other markets compare? Download the full whitepaper here.

Methodology:

The insights in this report are drawn from a recent global Custom survey on the Global media sector, specifically past media consumption patterns and the future global media landscape, covering 18 global markets of more than 19,000 respondents. Our survey was fielded the week of 10th August to 25th August 2022.

The YouGov panel provides a naturally accurate and representative view of thepopulation. Data is adjusted using a mild weighting team using interlocking demographic characteristics—methodology considered advanced in the market research space.

Data for Australia is based on a nationally representative sample of 1,029 respondents aged 16 and above.