The average share of US consumers’ daily media time spent online has risen from about 10% in 2007 to 15% in 2011, and is expected to grow to 16% this year, according to a new report from GroupM. Consumers spent an estimated 1 hour and 12 minutes out of their total of 8 hours in media time online in 2011. TV (55%) remained the dominant medium by time spent, followed by radio (20%). Data from an April 2012 Time study, though, indicates that digital natives spend the majority (51%) of their media time with digital media, while digital immigrants spend about two-thirds of their media time with non-digital media. The Time study defines digital natives as consumers who grew up with mobile technology as part of their everyday lives, and digital immigrants as consumers who first learned about mobile technology in their adult lives.
By comparison, December 2011 figures from eMarketer indicate that the internet (excluding mobile) accounted for a much larger 25.9% share of US adults’ daily media time in 2011, with mobile accounting for an additional 10.1% share. Magazines and newspaper combined for 6.8% share of daily media time, with TV dominant at 42.2% and radio at 10.9%.
US Display Spending Up 12%
Data from GroupM’s “Interaction 2012” indicates that within the US, digital advertising spending represented 22% share of the overall domestic market. Display advertising expenditures rose 12% year-over-year in 2011, from $15.31 billion to an estimated $17.15 billion. Display ad spend is expected to grow another 10% this year to $18.86 billion.
Spending growth in the UK was even higher, at almost 18% year-over-year in 2011 (reaching $1.6 billion), and is slated to rise another 16.3% this year.
Search Growth Rivals Display
US search spend also grew by 12% in 2011, according to the report, from $13.46 billion to an estimated $15.1 billion. Search spending is predicted to grow another 10% this year to $16.6 billion. Growth in the UK was a comparatively muted 10% in 2011, and is forecast at 8.1% this year. An April 2012 report from Adobe found that while US search spend grew 16% year-over-year in Q1 2012, UK growth was limited to 3%.
Other Findings:
- Data from the GroupM report indicates that e-commerce accounts for about 5% of global retail today, while it accounts for 10% of UK retail and the majority of its growth. According to a BCG report from March 2012, online retail is expected to represent 23% of the total UK retail economy in 2016. Other countries where online retail will play an influence include Germany (11.7%) and Australia (8.9%), though the US (7.1%) is predicted to fall below the developed market average (8.5%).
- The GroupM report suggests that average online advertising investment per online user has doubled from 2006-2011 globally. The US had an estimated per-capita online ad investment of $162 in 2011, and is predicted to rise to $174 this year. Meanwhile e-commerce per user stood at $944 in the US, and will top $1000 in 2012.
