Tracking Trends in the Media and Entertainment Industry
The media industry is constantly evolving due to changing consumer consumption patterns, consolidation and new business practices that become standard. Media leaders need the most up-to-date data on industry trends to best decide how to respond to them. But fresh, reliable figures are hard to come by.
To help media and entertainment leaders stay current on the need-to-know consumer behaviors and sentiment, Morning Consult is tracking the most important media consumption trends through a monthly survey of U.S. adults.
Find a more detailed methodology for this monthly tracker below.
Key Takeaways
Video streaming spending hasn’t been dinged dramatically by macroeconomic pressures. The share of adults who said in April that they spent $15 or less on streaming subscriptions in the previous month (25%) was lower compared with June last year (29%). This lines up with our previous findings of consumers cutting down more on one-off entertainment expenses than subscriptions over the past year.
Theaters should feel emboldened by their steady appeal since last summer. The share of adults who prefer theaters for newly released movies (32%) has remained flat since last June (33%), despite the theatrical release window decreasing industry-wide over the past couple of years. This speaks to theaters’ enduring appeal and should embolden theater owners to encourage more wide releases.
Trust in cable news networks has remained resilient despite recent negative headlines. Even though major networks have been involved in significant missteps of late — such as Don Lemon’s sexist remarks, and Fox settling the Dominion lawsuit for nearly $800 million — the share of adults saying cable offers the most trustworthy source of news was flat from June (17%) to April (18%).
Video Streaming Service Usage
Video Streaming Service Spending
Figures may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
Consumers Who Stream Music
Consumers Who Listen to Podcasts
Preferred News Medium
Trust in News Sources
Average Time Spent Playing Video Games
Esports Viewership
Metaverse Awareness
Methodology
The Morning Consult Media and Entertainment Monthly Trend Tracker relies on Morning Consult’s proprietary survey research capabilities. The interviews are conducted online, and the data is weighted to approximate a representative sample of U.S. adults based on gender, educational attainment, age, race and region. Results from the full survey have a monthly sample size of 2,200 U.S. adults and an unweighted margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.
About Morning Consult
Morning Consult is a global decision intelligence company changing how modern leaders make smarter, faster, better decisions. The company pairs its proprietary high-frequency data with applied artificial intelligence to better inform decisions on what people think and how they will act. Learn more at morningconsult.com
Email [email protected] to speak with a member of the Morning Consult team.
Kevin Tran is the media & entertainment analyst on the Industry Intelligence team, where he conducts research, authors analyst notes and advises leaders in the media & entertainment industry on how to apply insights to make better business decisions. Prior to Morning Consult, Kevin was a media analyst at Variety Intelligence Platform, Variety’s premium subscription service. Kevin graduated from the Haas School of Business undergraduate program at the University of California, Berkeley. @ktran223
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