Americans are spending more time than ever consuming media, with projections indicating a continued upward trend. In 2023, the average daily time spent with major media formats, including television, newspapers, magazines, radio, and digital platforms, reached ** hours and ** minutes. This figure is expected to surpass ** hours and ** minutes by 2026, highlighting the growing role of media in daily life. Digital media dominates consumption The increase in overall media consumption is largely driven by digital platforms. By 2025, U.S. consumers are anticipated to spend nearly * hours per day with digital media alone. This shift towards digital formats was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a sharp increase in the usage of streaming services and e-books. Today the digital media thrives because of mobile internet and smart TVs, and it is likely to continue on this path as consumers are still looking for ease of access and on-the-go experiences. Generational differences in media habits While television remains the primary device among the general population, younger demographics show different media device preferences. A March 2024 study revealed that ** percent of adults in the United States used mainly the TV for entertainment purposes. However, for those aged 18 to 34, smartphones were the primary device of choice. This generational divide in media consumption habits underscores the evolving landscape of entertainment and the growing importance of mobile devices in capturing younger audiences.

The graph presents the average time spent viewing top news channels in the United States from the first quarter of 2014 to the first quarter of 2017. According to the source, consumers spent an average of ***** minutes watching news channels in the first quarter of 2017.

The statistic gives information on the average interaction length with news articles on smartphones in the United States as of September 2015, sorted by article length. According to the source, 28 percent of short-form articles were read for an average of 31 to 60 seconds.

In the third quarter of 2024, an internet user in Colombia spent, on average, ** minutes (or *** hour and ** minutes) per day reading online or print press media. That is 4.5 percent more than a year earlier when the average amounted to ** minutes.

In terms of average time spent each day, TV is the second most used form of media in the United States, with adults spending *** minutes (more than ***** hours) watching television on a daily basis according to a study undertaken in April 2021. Digital formats took up the majority of U.S. adults' daily media consumption time, while for newspapers and magazines the average time spent was just *** and ***** minutes respectively. Is print dying? The reluctance among many print publications to publish their circulation figures tells a story in itself – print consumption is not what it used to be. Whilst many newspapers and magazines have made the move online, those which have not, have fallen behind, and in an increasingly digitized market risk disappearing almost totally from their audience’s view. Interestingly, ** percent adults who took part in a study on print media in 2018 admitted that they felt indifferent towards print dying out, and **** percent even said that they were happy at the prospect of the medium’s extinction. Despite the majority of respondents stating that they would be sad if print media became obsolete, a resurgence of the print medium looks to be unlikely. Book store and news dealer sales in the U.S. have been on the decline since 2007, and even long-established newspapers like The New York Times have had to protect themselves from the decline of print media by shifting their focus to digital. Subscriptions to The New York Times’ digital only news product have almost tripled since the end of 2014, evidencing the demand for such products and their potential success. Digital advertising and subscriptions make up a significant amount of the newspaper’s revenue and are necessary for its continued success. Had the NYT stuck to print, the company’s revenue would likely be very different. How has media consumption changed?  Since 2011, the daily time spent with major media in the United States has increased by ** minutes, with the average amount of daily time spent amounting to over half the hours in a day. Digital media is taking over, with music streaming services like Deezer and Spotify providing hours of entertainment and constantly expanding catalogues of music available at the click of a button. Revenue from music streaming in the U.S. reached 7.4 billion dollars in 2018, an increase of six billion in just five years, and the TV market is undergoing a similar change. Companies like Netflix and Sling TV are growing whilst traditional TV providers are losing subscribers. Streaming revenue, subscriptions and consumption are set to increase exponentially, whereas traditional media like books, print magazines and newspapers are less popular and have been exhibiting negative growth, a trend which is likely to continue in years to come.

In the third quarter of 2024, an internet user in Brazil spent, on average, *** minutes (or ***** hours and ** minutes) per day reading online or print press media. That is approximately *** percent more than the year before, when the average amounted to *** minutes.

Global media consumption patterns are shifting, with mobile devices maintaining their dominance in 2024. Users worldwide spent an average of ***** hours and ** minutes daily on mobile devices, unchanged from 2023. However, time spent on other media platforms has decreased, with print press experiencing the most significant decline of nearly ** percent compared to the first half of 2023. Changing media landscape The entertainment and media market continues to evolve, with a projected value of *** trillion U.S. dollars by 2027. Tech giants like Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. lead the industry in revenue, followed by traditional media companies such as Comcast Corporation and Walt Disney. The United States remains a crucial market for these companies, with Americans spending an average of *** minutes per day consuming major media. Importance of smartphones to entertainment The times of suing cell phones for calls only are long past. Today, the device is widely used for shopping and media consumption. Watching videos emerged as the leading entertainment activity performed on a mobile worldwide in early 2024. However, regional differences permeate. Video viewing habits are more prominent in APAC. At the same time, Europeans are less likely to watch videos on their phones but more inclined to them for reading the news.

In the third quarter of 2024, an internet user in Mexico spent, on average, ** minutes (or *** hour and ** minutes) per day reading online or print press media. That is around *** percent more than a year earlier when the average amounted to ** minutes.

In the first half of 2023, consumers in Latin America spent, on average, **** hours per day on mobile media activities. The daily time spent with broadcast TV amounted to *** hours and ** minutes.

Mobile internet usage in Latin America and the Caribbean Since the mobile media command the largest amount of leisure time among people in Latin America, then how popular is access to mobile internet in the region? More than ** percent of population in Uruguay, Chile, Costa Rica, and Argentina was reached by mobile internet in 2022. In Brazil and Mexico, the penetration rate of mobile internet stood at **** and **** percent, respectively. However, when it comes to number of users of mobile internet, that same year Brazil ranked first, with more than *** million users, with Mexico taking the second spot, with over ** million users. Printed press access dying out in LATAM? While TV and radio exhibit a relatively strong usage in the region, print media are not as popular. According to the study, a Latin American consumer spent less than ** minutes per day consuming print media such as books, magazines, and newspapers. In fact, it was forecast that by 2024, print media circulation will decrease by *** percent year-on-year. What is more, as of early 2021, less than ** percent of internet users in Latin America's six largest economies paid for digital news, showing that free news access is key in the region.

This statistic gives information on the most popular news brands in the United States as of June 2018, ranked by monthly time spent. According to the study, FOX News users spent an average of around 49 minutes per month accessing content on the website.

The graph shows the cumulative average weekly time spent watching TV news in the United States from 2015 to the first quarter of 2017. According to the source, U.S. adults spent a cumulative ***** billion minutes watching TV news weekly in the first quarter of 2017.

How much time do people spend on social media?

              As of 2024, the average daily social media usage of internet users worldwide amounted to 143 minutes per day, down from 151 minutes in the previous year. Currently, the country with the most time spent on social media per day is Brazil, with online users spending an average of three hours and 49 minutes on social media each day. In comparison, the daily time spent with social media in
              the U.S. was just two hours and 16 minutes. Global social media usageCurrently, the global social network penetration rate is 62.3 percent. Northern Europe had an 81.7 percent social media penetration rate, topping the ranking of global social media usage by region. Eastern and Middle Africa closed the ranking with 10.1 and 9.6 percent usage reach, respectively.
              People access social media for a variety of reasons. Users like to find funny or entertaining content and enjoy sharing photos and videos with friends, but mainly use social media to stay in touch with current events friends. Global impact of social mediaSocial media has a wide-reaching and significant impact on not only online activities but also offline behavior and life in general.
              During a global online user survey in February 2019, a significant share of respondents stated that social media had increased their access to information, ease of communication, and freedom of expression. On the flip side, respondents also felt that social media had worsened their personal privacy, increased a polarization in politics and heightened everyday distractions.

The statistic gives information on the average time engaged with news articles on a smartphone in the United States as of September 2015, sorted by article length and the social media source. According to the source, long-form articles found on Twitter were engaged with for an average of 133 seconds.

During a 2024 survey, 77 percent of respondents from Nigeria stated that they used social media as a source of news. In comparison, just 23 percent of Japanese respondents said the same. Large portions of social media users around the world admit that they do not trust social platforms either as media sources or as a way to get news, and yet they continue to access such networks on a daily basis.

              Social media: trust and consumption

              Despite the majority of adults surveyed in each country reporting that they used social networks to keep up to date with news and current affairs, a 2018 study showed that social media is the least trusted news source in the world. Less than 35 percent of adults in Europe considered social networks to be trustworthy in this respect, yet more than 50 percent of adults in Portugal, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Croatia said that they got their news on social media.

              What is clear is that we live in an era where social media is such an enormous part of daily life that consumers will still use it in spite of their doubts or reservations. Concerns about fake news and propaganda on social media have not stopped billions of users accessing their favorite networks on a daily basis.
              Most Millennials in the United States use social media for news every day, and younger consumers in European countries are much more likely to use social networks for national political news than their older peers.
              Like it or not, reading news on social is fast becoming the norm for younger generations, and this form of news consumption will likely increase further regardless of whether consumers fully trust their chosen network or not.

Estimates suggest that in 2026 U.S. adults will spend around ** percent of their time watching traditional TV each day. This figure has generally fallen in recent years and the downward trend is forecast to continue in the years to come. Screen time Although average daily time spent watching TV appears to be decreasing, this does not necessarily mean that people are spending less time in front of screens; this drop is likely due to an increasing amount of time spent with phones, tablets, and laptops. With on-demand streaming services such as Netflix gaining massive popularity, people can watch a huge range of programming whilst on the go, meaning that screen time is no longer limited to time spent at home in front of the TV. Young people around the world have been especially quick to adopt smartphone-based video streaming habits meaning that television screen time will likely fall even further in the future. Television in the U.S. As mentioned above, the way people are consuming their video entertainment content is rapidly changing in the United States. By 2028, estimates suggest that only **** million U.S. households will pay for traditional TV services, down from over ** million as of 2019. In order to compete for people’s business, cable and satellite providers must find a way to adapt in a way the meets the needs of today’s increasingly mobile consumers. Some are launching their own streaming services in a bid to tackle cord-cutting, most notably Comcast.

The statistic shows information on media which played an essential part in consumers' lives in the United States as of April 2014. During a survey, 64 percent of respondents stated that the radio was an essential part of their lives.

Media consumption in the United States – additional information

Local TVB news proved to be the most essential media in consumers’ lives in the United States as of April 2014. In a report detailing the distribution of time spent with media per day compared to share of ad spending in the U.S. in 2013, television accounted for 38 percent of time Americans spent with media. This was more time spent than the internet, print, radio or mobile. Television also accounted for 45 percent of the U.S. ad spending, suggesting advertisers are investing well in the media most popular with consumers.

Television accounts for the largest share of time spent per day by consumers, but how does that translate into daily time spent with media per capita in minutes and how has that time changed in recent years? In 2013, an American spent an average of 303 minutes per day watching television, which was down from 327 minutes per day in 2010. Consumers in 2013 spent the least amount of time reading newspapers and magazines with only 16 minutes and 11 minutes per day respectively.

In a worldwide survey in January and February 2014, 49 percent of American respondents stated that they accessed news via printed newspapers. On the other hand, 33 percent of American respondents stated that access news via online newspaper. These shares were low in comparison to the results from Finland whereby 79 percent of respondents accessed news via printed newspapers and 82 percent via online newspapers.

According a survey held in May 2025, the share of people aged 18 years and above in the United States who were very confident in their ability to distinguish real news from false information amounted to 19 percent. A further 53 percent were somewhat confident that they were able to identify misinformation, whereas just four percent had little faith in themselves to determine facts from fake content.

Average Weekly Hours in the United States remained unchanged at 34.20 Hours in August. This dataset provides - United States Average Weekly Hours - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

First case of a person infected with the novel coronavirus in Argentina was reported on March 3, 2020. One day earlier, an average inhabitant of the metropolitan region of Buenos Aires spent 107 minutes (one hour and 47 minutes) watching TV news. Approximately two weeks and 130 reported cases later, on March 19, 2020, an average person from that region spent 176 minutes (two hours and 56 minutes) watching TV news. For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

What are the most-watched news networks? In November 2023, Fox News was the most watched cable news network in the United States and continues to do well in terms of its primetime audience, with **** million primetime viewers in that period. Fox News viewers in the 25-54 demographic amounted to *** thousand, whilst MSNBC had just *** thousand. When looking at Fox News viewers compared to CNN, the overall average number of primetime viewers was notably different. CNN has been losing viewers in recent years, although during the coronavirus outbreak, tended to pull in a larger audience than usual. Which cable news channel has the most viewers in prime time? Performing well during the mid-evening prime time slot on cable television is the goal of any network that takes its ratings seriously.Cable news networks like Fox, CNN, and MSNBC are engaged in a monthly battle to hit the top spot during primetime and grab the highest cable news ratings during those precious evening hours. Fox News ratings during primetime are generally higher than its two direct competitors, and was the top channel for watching the State of the Union Address in 2020. What is prime time TV? Primetime television is the time at which the audience peaks, and in the United States usually takes place between 8pm and 11pm. TV networks show their most sought after or successful programs during this time, and this slot is where advertisers like to spend their money in order to maximize the number of viewers who will see their products. In fact, many of the most-watched news shows like Hannity or The Rachel Maddow Show which debate news coverage from a particular point of view, draw in massive audiences each month, ultimately contributing to the overall ratings of the network they belong to.