Time on Mobile Now Exceeds Time Watching TV, Study Says

For the first time in history, American adults are spending more time looking at mobile devices than watching TV, according to a new study from digital marketing firm eMarketer.

The firm’s analysis of over 2,000 metrics from 130 sources found that in 2019, U.S. adults will spend an average of three hours and 43 minutes per day (excluding voice time) on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. That’s more than the three hours and 35 minutes per day they will spend watching TV this year.

The crossover suggests that last year, 2018, marked a cultural turning point in the country — the last time television was America’s dominant source of screen-based information and entertainment.

“We’ve expected that mobile would overtake TV for a while, but seeing it happen is still surprising,” eMarketer Principal Analyst Yoram Wurmser said. “As recently as 2014, the average U.S. adult watched TV nearly two hours longer than they spent on mobile devices.”

Turning the Channel

Changes in consumer screen preferences could foreshadow significant changes in digital and broadcast advertising strategies for credit unions and other organizations.

According to the data, adults’ TV time will drop by nine minutes this year, but digital video will jump by eight minutes. In 2020, TV time will drop another six minutes, and video time will increase by six minutes, eMarketer predicted. People now spend about 40 minutes a day watching video on mobile devices, which is just over 40% of their daily digital video viewing time.

“While time spent watching traditional TV is declining, the networks already monetize their content that is viewed on OTT [over-the-top] services like Netflix or Hulu,” eMarketer Forecasting Analyst Eric Haggstrom said. “Soon-to-be-released streaming services from Disney, WarnerMedia and NBCU may allow them to monetize their content more effectively. Whether or not these services gain traction and replace lost audiences remains to be seen.”

Mobile App Use Dominating Mobile Web Browsing

Smartphones are the mobile device of choice, accounting for 70% of U.S. adults’ mobile time in 2019. On average, adults now spend two hours and 33 minutes on their phones, which is nine minutes more than in 2018.

“What are people spending time on their devices doing/? They’re consistently spending the bulk of their time using apps over web browsers, with the average person spending 2:57 in apps versus 0:26 on a mobile browser,” the company said.

Video was only the third-biggest driver of growth in mobile app engagement, however.

“The mobile app activity taking up the most time is listening to digital audio (53 minutes per day), followed by social networking (43 minutes per day),” eMarketer reported.

The Drive to Disconnect

The company also said that although it thought smartphone usage would continue to account for most mobile consumption, it predicted growth will slow to just 3.4% in 2021.

“Other devices and societal trends may begin to chip away minutes. The big question is whether consumers will start to translate their unease with an over-connected lifestyle into concrete actions to limit screen time,” it said.

“Companies like Google and Apple have introduced screen time controls, but how useful they are in ultimately changing behavior remains to be seen,” it added.