The changing ways we consume media

Ofcom recently published their latest annual Communications report, giving insights into the changing ways we use media. The report is a thumping 379 pages long so we’ve pulled out some of the most interesting findings for you.

45% of our time spent consuming media

The big headline is that on average we’re spending almost half (45%) our waking hours consuming media – from watching TV, listening to the radio, using email, reading our morning papers to using sites like Facebook. If we are using this much media, how are we managing to squeeze the rest of our daily activities into the remaining 13 hours!

Of course this type of statistic implies we spend more time media multi-tasking (e.g. we listen to the radio while emailing, surfing the internet while watching TV) which now accounts for 20% of all media consumed throughout the day and even more for young people.

Sore fingers

We’re now sending four times as many texts per day than in 2004, spending almost a quarter of our internet time on social networking sites and spending 3 hours and 45 minutes a day watching TV.

TV trends

Both scheduled and catch-up TV is popular, with 31 percent of homes with internet access watching online catch-up TV services in the first quarter of 2010. A total of 22 percent of us have purchased an HD-ready TV in the last 12 months, with HD-ready TV sales in the UK having passed 25 million. Five million households have now also signed up to HD services through pay TV, Freesat and Freeview services.

Internet use

2009 saw internet use up 68 percent, driven by the increase in gaming, catch-up TV services and on demand content that’s are now available.

And time spent on fixed internet has increased by over two thirds since 2008 with adults spending 14 hours and 12 minutes per month on the internet in 2010 compared with 8 hours and 18 minutes per month in 2008.

Increased internet usage is also saving us money as more of us shop online (53%), use price comparison sites (61%) and use online voucher codes (47%) to save money.

Gaming and chatting

Playing games is now the most popular way we spend our time online. Thirty-nine per cent of internet users claim to play games online, compared to 38% who claim to download music and films online, the next most popular category.

And no matter how long we spend online – we still love to chat. Voice calls per person increased by an average of 1.6 percent a year since 2004, to 11 hours and 12 minutes a month in 2009.

So that’s a current snap shot of how we use media in 2010. As more new technology is introduced and adopted like 3D TV, Internet enabled TV and the increased adoption of smart phones undoubtedly a great deal more will change over the coming months.

How does the above reflect your daily media consumption?