As digital audio consumption increases, the advertising market in Canada is developing rapidly to reach new listeners.

Our forecast for digital video viewers in Canada highlights greater consumption of the medium during the pandemic.

Digital video viewership in the UK will continue to rise this year. The pandemic has provided a particularly significant impetus for subscription video-on-demand services, while connected TVs have become the consumption device of choice.

Digital video consumption began to boom. While 95.0% of internet users polled had watched live TV during the prior month in Q1, only 45.8% had watched TV shows via a broadcaster’s catch-up or on-demand service—a gain of almost 5 percentage points from H1 2020. This was, however, a much lower percentage than in Germany (69.8%), Spain (70.4%), or the UK (84.2%), for example.

By comparison, digital video consumption has surged. The share of internet users streaming free or paid-for video content jumped almost 10 percentage points in H1 2021, to 91.2%. (It should be noted that GWI included YouTube in its video category for the first time this year, and at least part of the increase is likely due to that.)

Despite the rise in digital video consumption, only 35.2% of internet users owned a smart TV in H1 2021. Affluence seems to be a determining factor; since 2019, smart TV ownership has aligned more closely with household income than with any other demographic trait.

Digital video consumption was above average among all younger adults and those in middle- and higher-income homes. But even in the oldest age bracket, over 85% of internet users had recently streamed video. Nonetheless, time spent with broadcast TV in H1 was more than half an hour greater than time spent with online TV and video, at 1 hour, 56 minutes (1:56) per day versus 1:22, respectively.

Digital video consumption continues to outstrip TV viewing, however, with 94.7% of China’s internet users accessing video-on-demand (VOD) services in the previous month. Respondents devoted an estimated 1 hour, 34 minutes (1:34) per day to online TV and video. And as in H1 2020, nearly 92% of respondents listened to digital audio, such as music or podcasts, and devoted 1:27 daily to music streaming.

Yet the main cause is more likely the general surge in digital video consumption worldwide, which was already underway in 2019 and further accelerated by the pandemic. In keeping with that trend, smart TV penetration in Singapore climbed from 44.8% to 48.4% between 2020 and 2021. Digital audio apparently reached a smaller audience in 2021.

Digital video consumption, which jumped during the pandemic in H1 2020, recorded another leap this year. Nearly 86% of internet users polled in H1 2021—including 99.6% of those ages 16 to 24, and over 90% of those in high-income homes—streamed video content in the previous month.

Today’s kids are more digital than previous generations at the same age. But, while digital video is certainly an important part of kids’ media diet, we estimate that just over half of those ages 11 and younger (52.4%) will be digital video viewers this year. TV penetration is still much higher (close to nine in 10), although time spent is declining.

Lockdowns in the UK drove up video consumption, and multiperson households made good use of their multiple screens. Advertisers now need to adapt to an audience that is more device-agnostic and content-hungry than ever.