Adults spend more than 11 hours per day interacting with media: report

American adults spend more than 11 hours per day listening to, watching, reading or interacting with media on some level, according to the first-quarter 2018 Nielsen Total Audience Report released Tuesday.

The report points to a surge of new platforms and “younger, multicultural generations who leverage them.”

{mosads}The study also found that more than two-thirds of U.S. TV households “now have a connected TV device that can stream content to the TV,” with 64 percent of homes now having access to at least one of the three Netflix, Hulu or Amazon subscription video on demand services, or SVODs, an increase of 58 percent from one year ago.

Nielsen reports that 82 percent of non-TV households still view video content on computers, smartphones, tablets, at a friend’s house or while at work.

The report also found that millennials, or young adults aged 18-34, “spend 43 percent of their time consuming media on digital platforms.”

Racial demographics also show varying results in terms of consumption, with Asian-Americans being more likely to watch content on digital platforms and African-Americans consuming “nearly 13 and a half hours per day,” which is 2.5 hours more than the average American adult.

“Hispanic adults over index on TV-connected devices compared to total adults, spending almost 45 minutes on game consoles and internet connected devices. Asian Americans are helping to lead the charge on digital platforms, as they spend well over 4 hours daily using the internet on a computer and apps/web on smartphones and tablets,” reads the report.

“In terms of overall usage, black adults 18+ on average consume nearly 13 and a half hours of media per day—almost two and a half hours more than the average U.S. adult,” it continues. “Black adults are the heaviest users of media across all types of platforms, especially live TV. When looking at app/web on a smartphone usage, they spend 2 hours and 46 minutes on the devices daily, the most of any group.”

Peter Katsingris, senior vice president of audience insights at Nielsen, says the report shows that people are embracing the ability to completely personalize and customize media consumption in ways not seen until recently.

“Consumers in today’s fragmented media landscape have so many ways to discover content that matters to them. This plethora of options is shaping behavior, too, as the ability to choose the source, device, location and time becomes more and more tailored,” Katsingris told Broadcasting & Cable.

 “With each passing day, consumers are able to further customize their own media usage into an individualized experience akin to a media DNA, each consumer with an ability for complete personalization.”