Media consumption on mobile internet in the country is expected to be the highest among all mediums, with consumers likely to spend 79 minutes a day by 2021, according to media agency Zenith. It noted that the media consumption on mobile internet has gone up from 9.4 minutes daily in 2013 to 54 minutes this year. Television continues to be the popular media to engage with customers, with Indians on an average spending 144 minutes daily on television, up from 140 minutes in 2013. "While television remains the dominant medium, internet consumption led by mobile shows the fastest growth.
There is nothing more personal to the consumer than the handset and for many in India, the first taste of media consumption comes from the small screen," Tanmay Mohanty, CEO of Zenith India and Head of Global Partnerships (India) said.
Mobile consumption is only expected to go upwards with falling data prices, increased mobile penetration in tier 2 and 3 markets, availability of low-cost handsets, entry of 5G networks and explosion in vernacular content formats, he said.
Zenith expects the Indian consumers to spend an average of 320 minutes a day with media this year, up from 270 minutes in 2013. By 2021, it estimates that the average consumer will spend 348 minutes a day consuming media.
Globally, it expects, consumers to spend an average of 800 hours using the mobile internet this year, that is equivalent to 33 days without sleep or pause. By 2021 the total will rise to 930 hours, or 39 full days.
"Across the 57 countries that were surveyed, people will spend a collective 3.8 trillion hours using the mobile internet this year, rising to 4.5 trillion hours in 2021," it said.
Since 2015, the average amount of time people around the world spend accessing the mobile internet has risen from 80 to 130 minutes a day, at an average rate of 13% a year, spurred on by the availability of affordable smartphones, faster connections, better screens and app innovation, it noted.
"We forecast an average of 8% annual growth in time spent on mobile internet devices between 2018 and 2021. We expect mobile internet use to account for 31% of global media consumption in 2021, up from 27% this year," it said.
Globally, television is expected to attract 167 minutes of viewing each day in 2019. Television viewing is predicted to fall slowly to 165 minutes a day in 2021.
However, it will remain the world's favourite medium throughout, accounting for 33% of all media consumption in 2021, down from 35% in 2019.
Consumers worldwide are expected to spend an average of 479 minutes a day with media this year, up from 420 minutes in 2013.
"By 2021 we expect the average consumer to spend 495 minutes a day consuming media," it said.
The agency noted that between 2014 and 2019, the average amount of time spent reading newspapers has fallen from 17 minutes a day to 11, while time spent reading magazines has fallen from 8 to 4, and time spent watching television has fallen from 171 to 167. Desktop internet use has also fallen, from 47 minutes a day to 40.
However, consumers' appetite for radio and cinema has remained robust, with radio listening rising from 53 minutes to 55, and time spent at the cinema rising from 1.8 minutes to 3 minutes a day on average, driven by a boom in cinema attendance in China.
