Ad-supported Media

Even as consumer time spent with media continues

to expand -- inching up 0.3% last year -- the

percentage of time consumers spend with ad-supported

media continues to decline, according to the 2018

edition of an annual report tracking and forecasting

consumer media usage.

The study, which was previewed by Research Intelligencer,

comes as a major industry futurist -- Publicis’ Rishad

Tobaccowala -- predicts that ad-supported media exposure

is about to experience a cliff effect, declining as much

as 30% over the next five years as consumers shift their

attention to non-ad-supported media.

The good news is that the total amount of time

Americans spent consuming media rose to 70.7

hours per week last year. The bad news for Madison

Avenue is that the share of time spent with ad-supported

media fell to 44.4%, its lowest point ever.

The report, published by PQ Media, projects that ad-

supported media’s share of consumer time will fall to

42.5% by 2021, as consumers shift more of their time

and attention to media that has little or no advertising in

it -- mainly subscription services for consuming video,

audio and other forms of media.