Tracking Media and Entertainment Industry Trends
Updated: Jan. 11, 2023 | By Kevin Tran
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 & 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. We’ll be updating this page with new data and analyses every month.
Sign up for alerts and find more detailed methodology for this monthly tracker below.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Not all consumers took advantage of their additional downtime to stream video in December. The share of U.S. adults using a video streaming service at least once in December was down 2 percentage points month over month. Even though major titles — like Netflix’s “Knives Out” — dropped last month, holiday travel plans likely cut into overall streaming activity.
Podcast listenership fared better among millennials. The share of millennials that listened to podcasts increased by 5 points in December, with major news publishers’ year-end recaps of the top podcasts of 2022 likely influencing more of that cohort to tune in.
Movie theater fandom was relatively unchanged from earlier in the year. In December, 31% of adults said they “somewhat” or “strongly” preferred the movie theater for new releases, up 2 points from July. Still, the share reporting a preference for theater releases could inch upward through 2023 as more big-budget films — such as “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” and “Dune: Part Two” — are expected to hit cinemas this year compared to 2022.
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VIDEO STREAMING TRENDS
Shares of respondents who said they watched content on a video streaming service at least once in the past month
Share of U.S. adults who said they paid the following for video streaming service subscriptions in the past month:
Shares of respondents who said they used each device most often to access video streaming services in the past month
Share of U.S. adults who said whether they prefer to watch a just-released movie in a theater or via video streaming service
AUDIO STREAMING TRENDS
Shares of respondents who said they streamed music or listened to a podcast at least once in the past month
Shares of respondents who said they used each device most often to stream music
NEWS CONSUMPTION TRENDS
Share of U.S. adults who said they used each source for news at least once in the past month
Share of U.S. adults who said the following offered the most trustworthy news sources:
VIDEO GAMES, ESPORTS AND METAVERSE TRENDS
Share of U.S. adults who said they spent the following amount of time playing video games in an average week:*
Shares of respondents who said they watched an esports event in the past month
Shares of respondents who said they had seen, read or heard the following about the metaverse:
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Methodology
The Morning Consult Media & 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 plus or minus 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
About the author
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.
Email press@morningconsult.com to speak with a member of the Morning Consult team.