BackAdults’ time spent on digital media to grow 14.4% in 2017: report
In 2017, adults in India will spend an average of 1 hour and 18 minutes daily with digital media, says eMarketer's latest forecast on time spent with media
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New Delhi: In 2017, adults in India will spend an average of 1 hour and 18 minutes daily with digital media as compared to adults in Japan and South Korea who will roughly spend 3 hours 5 minutes and 3 hours 26 minutes, respectively, according to eMarketer’s latest forecast on time spent with media.
Adults’ average time spent per day with digital media will grow 14.4% this year, with much of that spurred by rural populations gaining internet access for the first time.
The market research company forecasts that the total time spent with overall media among the adult population in India will grow by 5.1% in 2017. This growth which has centered on rural population, will continue to be fuelled by inexpensive mobile devices and affordable data plans, according to the company.
Adults in India are expected to spend 34 minutes with smartphones in 2017, an increase of 23.1% from the previous year. In Japan and South Korea, increased use of mobile devices—specifically smartphones—is driving time spent with digital media. Comparatively, India’s internet infrastructure is still developing.
With only one-third of the population regularly accessing the internet, individuals in India rely mostly on traditional media sources for news and entertainment. No wonder digital media comes in the second place to TV in India, which will account for 55.3%, or 2 hours 11 minutes, of daily time spent with all major media—digital or otherwise. Daily TV time is expected to grow, especially in rural areas, on the strength of news coverage and sports broadcasts of cricket which will get an estimated daily time spent of 2 hours 11 minutes in 2017.
Radio listenership, on the other hand, has grown due to the expansion of FM radio. However, it is still far behind digital and TV. This year, adults in India will spend an average of 12 minutes listening to the radio each day, while print will take an average of 16 minutes.
“Adults in India are spending more time with all types of media than ever before, and strong growth is expected to continue in the future, thanks to digital media and the rural population," said eMarketer senior forecasting analyst Chris Bendtsen. “As more people in rural areas regularly connect to the internet due to cheaper smartphones and data plans, the average time spent with social activities like social networks and messaging will see significant increases."
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