Digital media is on the rise as of late, between streaming services, downloadable/cloud-based games and other conveniences that make it simple to get entertainment with the push of a button.
The Wall Street Journal reports that, according to numbers provided by online measurement firm comScore, the total amount of time spent with digital media in the U.S. has increased by 49 percent over the past two years, with most use coming from non-desktop devices (like mobile). In addition, time spent with digital media on such devices managed to grow an incredible 90 percent between June 2013 and June 2015, with a 64 percent increase with tablet usage.
That’s not to say desktop devices are dead by any means, just that there’s a transition to more mobile use. Total minutes spent consuming digital media from desktop devices still showed some growth, by 16 percent, over the same two-year period. There’s still clearly room for both, according to its numbers.
As a result, a number of venture capitalists and media giants have submitted billions of dollars into digital media start-ups, in the hopes of getting caught up in the wave and seeing their investments paying off. One example WSJ brought up is NBCUniversal’s recent $200 million investment in BuzzFeed.
On top of a growing audience of viewers, marketers are also focusing a bit more on digital as well. Internet advertising revenues for the U.S. totaled $49.5 billion for last year, a 16 percent increase over 2013, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau. And those numbers are likely to grow even more this year.
The chart below breaks down just how aggressive this growth has been in all areas over the past couple of years, barely clearing a million minutes back in 2013, and then jumping to almost 1.5 million. Expect this number to continue to grow, especially with services like Netflix and Amazon expanding on their original productions.
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