logo
Updated on Jan 16, 2024
Updates quarterly

Tracking Trends in the Media and Entertainment Industry

The share of adults who prefer theaters for movie premieres has held steady
Morning Consult Logo
Share of U.S. adults who said whether they prefer to watch a just-released movie in a theater or via video streaming service. Figures may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

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 tracker below.

Key Takeaways

  • Podcast listenership is up year over year. In November, 46% of adults said they listened to a podcast in the past month, up 5 percentage points from last November. This makes sense, as several prominent podcasts such as Emma Chamberlain’s “Anything Goes” and Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” became widely accessible in 2023 after previously being exclusive to Spotify. Keep an eye out for Joe Rogan’s decision in 2024 on whether to renew his exclusive Spotify deal — his exit could be a boon for Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or a dark-horse platform. 

  • More consumers are turning to social media for news. Last month, 73% of adults used social media for news at least once, up 4 points from October and 7 points year over year. While misinformation surrounding the Israel-Hamas war is still an issue, this uptick could in part reflect a growing shift among some consumers toward using private groups on messaging platforms like WhatsApp to share and discuss news with individuals they trust. 

  • Monthly reach of video streaming services remained flat, hinting at a greater need for bundles. About 3 in 4 adults (74%) said they used a video streaming service, even with both the previous month and November 2022. This should be expected given most major video streaming services implemented some type of price hike in 2023, despite the greater availability of bundle deals like the Peacock-Instacart bundle. To move the needle on streaming household penetration in the United States, more streaming combinations that minimize the need to switch between various platforms — such as the HBO Max/Discovery+ merger — will be necessary.

Video Streaming Service Usage

Shares of respondents who said they watched content on a video streaming service at least once in the past month
Morning Consult Logo

Video Streaming Service Spending

Shares who said they paid the following for video streaming service subscriptions in the past month:
Morning Consult Logo
Figures may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Consumers Who Stream Music

Shares of respondents who said they streamed music at least once in the past month
Morning Consult Logo

Consumers Who Listen to Podcasts

Shares of respondents who said they listened to a podcast at least once in the past month
Morning Consult Logo

Preferred News Medium

Share of U.S. adults who said they used each source for news at least once in the past month
Morning Consult Logo

Trust in News Sources

Share of U.S. adults who said the following offered the most trustworthy news sources:
Morning Consult Logo

Average Time Spent Playing Video Games

Share of U.S. adults who said they spent the following amount of time playing video games in an average week:*
Morning Consult Logo
*This includes app-based games on mobile devices, as well as online or offline games played on a computer or gaming console.

Esports Viewership

Shares of respondents who said they watched an esports event in the past month
Morning Consult Logo

Metaverse Awareness

Shares of respondents who said they had seen, read or heard the following about the metaverse:
Morning Consult Logo
Figures may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Source of This Data

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.

Kevin Tran
Senior Media & Entertainment Analyst

Kevin Tran previously worked at Morning Consult as the senior media & entertainment analyst.