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Tracking Media and Entertainment Industry Trends

Updated: May 16, 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

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%).

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VIDEO STREAMING TRENDS

Video Streaming Service Usage

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

Video Streaming Service Spending

Share of U.S. adults who said they paid the following for video streaming service subscriptions in the past month:

Figures may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
Consumer Preferences for Movie Releases: Streaming vs. Movie Theaters

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.

AUDIO STREAMING TRENDS

Consumers Who Stream Music

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

Consumers Who Listen to Podcasts

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

NEWS CONSUMPTION TRENDS

Preferred News Medium

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

Trust in News Sources

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

VIDEO GAMES, ESPORTS AND METAVERSE TRENDS

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:*

*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

Metaverse Awareness

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  to speak with a member of the Morning Consult team.

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