The majority of premium OTT viewing is on CTV devices like Roku or smart TVs that connect directly to the internet.

This report reviews our final 2020 numbers and new 2021 forecast for US time spent with media, highlighting pre- and post-pandemic estimates and expectations. Special attention is paid to TV, connected TV, OTT, digital audio, and social media.

As such, our CTV and smart TV user numbers saw strong growth that will carry over into our longer-term forecast. The story for smart TV users will be largely similar. The jump in user numbers last year—a 2.8 million increase on our pre-pandemic estimate to 26.5 million—will continue through 2024.

Among subscribers, time spent will be much higher (1:42 per day). Time Spent with Digital Video. Digital video—which encompasses any online video watched on a computer or a smartphone and essentially anything viewed via a game console, smart TV, or OTT service—is rapidly replacing traditional TV among younger generations. We anticipated 1:48 per day would go to digital video this year per US adult.

Early in the pandemic, digital audio took a huge hit in user engagement and in the amount of time listeners were spending with the medium. Many observers, including us, predicted dire results in the short term. However, the rest of the year played out very differently than those early weeks, and we ultimately revised our 2020 estimate from a 1.0% decline in the time US adults spent with digital audio to 8.3% growth, for a total of 1 hour, 29 minutes (1:29) per day.

Early in 2020, as the pandemic was getting underway, Americans flocked to their TV sets at a rate unseen in years. Initially, US households were glued to the news, as uncertainty over the coronavirus drove viewership. In the following weeks, the TVs mostly stayed on, as the initial wave of lockdowns kept Americans stuck on the couch with lots of new time to kill.

Smart TV ownership also climbed 3 percentage points to 46.2% of internet users this year. Yet the US does lag several other developed nations by this measure. In the UK, for example, 49.6% of respondents said they owned a smart TV in H1 2020; in Spain and Germany, those shares were 50.1% and 50.8%, respectively. Meanwhile, penetration of some key devices declined in the US between H1 2019 and H1 2020.

Smart TVs are well established in most countries with robust, reliable communications networks. More than four in 10 internet users polled in North America, Latin America, and Western Europe said they owned a smart TV in H1 2020, though France was below that threshold.

Daily engagement with social media added up to 1:36, essentially identical to time spent with social in 2019. But penetration of social networking increased 2.9 percentage points, to 84.6%. Among newer digital devices, smart TVs were the clear winner in terms of popularity. Half (49.9%) of respondents owned a smart TV in H1 2020.

However, average time spent each day with live radio, at 46 minutes, had fallen by 7 minutes since H1 2019. Few internet users own advanced digital devices, though affordability is likely an issue for many. Smart TV ownership rose by nearly 5 percentage points to an estimated 36.4% of internet users in H1 2020 but still correlated directly with income.

Interestingly, mobile was the only category in which the time spent figure increased from last year, according to GlobalWebIndex. Internet users in the UK spent an average 2 hours, 29 minutes (2:29) daily engaged with mobile in H1 2020. Yet PCs and tablets still claimed more than an hour more at 3:33. Smart TVs are still growing in popularity.

Smart TVs have a significant presence in Turkey, though penetration fell from 44.6% to 43.4% year over year (YoY). The devices were more popular among females and older adults, but respondents in affluent homes registered the highest penetration at 56.5%. Note that last year, more than 65% of internet users in that cohort owned a smart TV. Traditional media still command large audiences.

Time spent with PCs and tablets was a full hour less at 3:16. In fact, PC and tablet time had decreased from H1 2019, while mobile time rose. Smart TV penetration also declined marginally to 37.3% in H1 2020. As in Turkey, there was a notable drop in ownership of smart TVs among internet users living in affluent households.

In H1 2019, average time spent with PCs and tablets was almost 30 minutes more than mobile. In 2020, PCs and tablets still claimed more time, but the gap had narrowed to 10 minutes. Mobile time totaled 3 hours, 44 minutes (3:44), while PC time stood at 3:54. Smart TV ownership in Taiwan dropped by 3.5 percentage points between H1 2019 and H1 2020, to 22.7%.

While PCs and tablets seem to be losing favor, smart TVs too may be nearing their peak. Some 24.7% of respondents owned a smart TV in H1 2020. That said, web-enabled TVs were more popular among females than males, and ownership was especially high among internet users in high-income households (36.9%). Many other advanced devices are also struggling to win friends.

Meanwhile, smart TVs have made inroads with internet users in Colombia: 57.0% of respondents owned one in H1 2020 compared with 55.8% last year. As in 2019, uptake was much lower in low-income households and suburban areas, but reached 72.6% of internet users in high-income households, up from 67.7% last year.