If you spend the majority of your waking hours glued to your phone, tablet or a barrage of other screens viewing or streaming content, you're not alone. US adults now spend more than 12 hours per day consuming media, according to eMarketer. From plane rides to waiting rooms — and even trips to the bathroom — having easy, instant and mobile access to media means you always have a way to pass the time.
But how exactly are adults spending that many hours on media consumption? And what does this mean for marketers? Here's what you need to know:
Calculate Media Usage
Even if you're a media addict whose smartphone is always within arm's reach, 12 hours seems a little excessive. After all, if you're sleeping an average of eight hours per night and working about eight hours per day, where exactly are you fitting in half a day of browsing your favorite news sites, watching TV, listening to podcasts and catching up on the latest cat videos?
According to eMarketer, the answer is something called media multitasking. For example, if you spend an hour watching Netflix but spend that same hour browsing Facebook on your phone, that's technically one hour per medium for a total of two hours of media consumption.
How Marketers Can Leverage Growing Media Consumption
As a marketing leader, your objective is to get your messages in front of the right audience at a time when they're most likely to engage. And given that media consumption rates are at all-time highs, there are limitless opportunities to reach your target. Moreover, thanks to media multitasking, you can use multichannel campaigns to reinforce your message as users move from one medium to the next.
For example, let's say a prospect opened an email with a product offer during her lunch break and started the checkout process, but became distracted and failed to complete the purchase. Later, you serve her retargeting ads while she's browsing the internet, reminding her of the product in her abandoned cart. Finally, while streaming her favorite show, she's served an ad offering free shipping for a limited time. Quickly, she whips out her mobile device and completes the purchase.
Adults are spending a huge chunk of their day consuming media, and it doesn't look like that's going to change anytime soon. Unfortunately, this also means media channels are becoming more and more crowded. But by developing a multi-channel strategy that keeps your brand top-of-mind, you can make sure you're using those 12 hours of marketing opportunities wisely.
