US Media Consumption Report 2021

When we ran our Media Consumption Report for 2020 in June last year, the country and the world was changing rapidly. The pandemic had closed businesses and halted travel, and the Black Lives Matter protests were triggering a long overdue change to the national debate on social issues.

People everywhere were consuming content in unprecedented levels – there was little else to do during lockdowns. But what’s changed a year on? In this report we’ll give you the latest data on Americans’ media consumption for 2021, and guide brands on how to reach their customers this year and beyond. 

What are the highlights from our data?

Streaming overtakes live TV

For the first time since we launched the Media Consumption Report in 2019, the number of Americans streaming TV content (83%) has surpassed those watching live TV (81%)

Decrease in TV bingeing

It’s perhaps no surprise to discover that the time Americans spend watching TV has reduced compared with 2020. What is a surprise is that time spent watching TV is also considerably lower than pre-pandemic levels.

Switching off the news and escaping reality

Our research reveals a collapse in consumers watching TV news, with just under a third (32%) regularly tuning in, compared with 46% in 2020.

In this report, we’ve broken the data down by age demographic, making it easy for you to see the best ways to access your target audience. Covering everything from printed publications to podcasts, this insight (from 2,000 US working-age consumers) will help guide your media buying across TV, print, audio and digital. And, what’s more, you can slice and dice the data to your own specifications in our interactive dashboard.

Use this report to:

• Understand how to capture different demographics
• Help decide where to allocate ad spend
• Anticipate future media trends