Digital media formats are poised for growth in US and Canada: Total media consumption will decrease this year as pandemic-inspired habits calm.

The Global Media Intelligence Report is a concise, detailed compilation of data and insights about internet users’ traditional and digital media usage in 43 key markets worldwide. With very few exceptions, this 2021 edition covers the same range of metrics we featured in 2020, and the consistency of GWI’s methodology enables us to offer precise year-over-year (YoY) comparisons.

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Media consumption jumped during the pandemic, when strict lockdowns in Canada drove media consumption to unprecedented highs. That boost persists, but we are now seeing media consumption on a path that will revert closer to pre-pandemic levels. Total daily time spent with media will be 10:08 this year. That’s down 6 minutes from last year and down 20 minutes from 2020.

Digital media consumption has peaked. The overall media reset that we mentioned above indicates that digital media consumption isn’t additive. Before the pandemic, we forecast a time-spent plateau for the UK. Obviously, a lot has changed since then. But the return to societal normalcy is coinciding with that of media consumption. Our original thesis was essentially correct.

Going forward, most forms of digital media consumption we track will continue to see gains in time spent, but not all. Some major categories, like time spent with social media, are heading for stagnation; others, like time spent on desktops/laptops and tablets, will see outright declines.

Average daily time spent with media shot past the 10-hour mark last year, pushing media consumption to new levels in Canada.