Time Spent on Digital Video in France Now 20% of Daily Viewing Time

Adults in France continue to devote more time to digital, especially video: Total viewing time (TV and digital video) remains steady, meaning viewers are replacing time spent with TV for digital video. This year, for the first time, digital video time will surpass 20% of total viewing time.

Total viewing time among adults in France will remain at 4 hours, 30 minutes through 2021. While TV makes up the majority—3 hours, 35 minutes this year—time spent is dropping. TV time will fall 5 minutes this year and another 4 minutes next year.

Digital video is directly replacing the TV viewing time lost. Digital video time among adults will grow 6 minutes to 55 minutes per day this year, adding another 4 minutes next year. By 2021, time spent with digital video will surpass 10% of daily media time in France. Video time is growing at a faster rate than any other media form—nearly 11% this year.

“More original content is being published in French on digital video platforms such as Netflix and Amazon,” said Martín Utreras, vice president of forecasting at eMarketer. “That is driving higher engagement with these platforms, which is eating away at TV time.”

Overall, the time adults spend per day with traditional media, such as newspapers, magazines, radio and television, will drop 8 minutes this year to 5 hours, 57 minutes. This is the first time traditional media consumption in France has dropped below 6 hours per day, or below 60% of total daily media time.

For comparison, average total digital time in France among adults will grow 8 minutes this year to 4 hours, 9 minutes per day, surpassing 40% of total media time.

“France is now entering a new phase: Digital media time is replacing traditional time, not adding to it,” said Karin von Abrams, principal analyst at eMarketer. “As the figures suggest, gains in digital time spent are balancing out declines in time spent with traditional media, so total media time is reaching a plateau. Fundamentally, people are reaching a saturation point where they cannot consume much more media, even when they multitask. That’s partly because many of the digital media activities that have posted the most significant growth are quite engaging. They demand a certain amount of attention and therefore, don’t lend themselves to multitasking. Mobile social networking and on-demand digital video are prime examples of this.”