Average Time Spent with Media in Germany

Time spent begins to plateau, with mobile growing faster than other forms of media consumption

Article by Amy He | Jun 27, 2019

Broadcast television remains hugely popular, and TV viewers will watch an average of 3:47 of TV a day, though that time represents a 3-minute decrease as time spent with digital video inches up.

Radio, like in France and the UK, has a sizable audience in Germany, with internet users ages 16 to 64 spending an average of 1:32 a day with traditional broadcast radio in Q3 2018, which is almost three times what they spend on music streaming (0:37). Children are more likely to listen to music via radio broadcasts, indicating that they’re likely picking up the habit from their parents, and haven’t yet graduated to digital audio platforms such as Spotify.

Many consumers in Germany also remain loyal to print media, more so than elsewhere in Europe. Even though time spent with newspapers and magazines is gradually decreasing, adults in Germany are spending 0:35 a day compared with the 0:33 spent in France and 0:21 spent in the UK.

“One reason for the continuing appeal of traditional media in Germany is that the population skews older than in other leading Western European countries, and older people are more likely to read print newspapers and magazines, for example,” said eMarketer principal analyst Karin von Abrams. “Of course internet penetration continues to rise, but time spent online still correlates with age, as well. The ‘ARD/ZDF Onlinestudie 2018’ reported that residents ages 14 to 29 spent 5:53, on average, online each day in 2018—but those ages 70 and older spent just 0:37.”

Digital video has surged in popularity since 2016, with new platforms like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix boosting viewer numbers and time spent among consumers in general. Digital video time will increase 13% this year to an average of 0:46 a day, following 40% growth the year before.