The Growing Complexity of Media Consumption
1994
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1997: SATELLITE RADIO
The FCC grants two companies licenses to operate direct-to-consumer subscription satellite radio services, offering an unregulated alternative to the AM and FM bands.
TV
RADIO
1999: STREAMING AUDIO
Digital audio streaming becomes possible following the launch of peer-to-peer file sharing services, enabling music downloading and uploading. In the next 2-3 years, several Internet radio and on-demand music streaming applications launch.
2003: PODCASTS
The first podcast is published online, allowing listeners to download and listen to a previously recorded show on-demand.
2014: VOICE AI
While audio commands date back to 1911 and modern digital virtual assistants date back to around 2010, the first “Home Assistants” hit the market in 2014, allowing consumers to issue voice commands and consume content via audio user interfaces.
2002: DIGITAL VIDEO
The development of “adaptive bitrate streaming” allows for high-quality video streaming over the Internet.
2005: USER-GENERATED VIDEO
Video sharing takes off as several sites begin allowing users to upload video content.
2006: STREAMING VIDEO
Multiple large tech companies launch video streaming services in 2006 and 2007.
2007: CONNECTED TV
Connected TV becomes a reality as several providers launch services that enable users to watch digital video content via analog television sets.
2008: MOBILE VIDEO
From 2007-2009, mobile video becomes a reality as quality mobile screens and 4G / LTE technology become available.
SATELLITE RADIO
STREAMING AUDIO
PODCASTS
VOICE AI
DIGITAL VIDEO
USER-GENERATED VIDEO
STREAMING VIDEO
CONNECTED TV
MOBILE VIDEO
INTERNET RADIO
1993: INTERNET RADIO
Radio shows begin broadcasting over the Internet, allowing people across the world to tune-in to local shows. The first live music concert is broadcast over the Internet the same year.
1994: The first digital banner ad runs at a cost of $30,000 for 12 weeks. One year later, AOL and Yahoo, pioneers of the early Internet era, become mainstream. AOL has 3M active users within one year and Yahoo receives over 1M hits before the end of 1995.
1997: The pay-per-click advertising model gains widespread adoption in the mid-to-late-90s.
1995: The first mobile smartphone models enter the market featuring e-mail, fax, and web browsers.
2003-2006: Several large social media sites launch, later becoming the predominant media for sharing personal updates and 3rd-party content with an online social network.
2007: Between 2007–2010, ad exchanges like Yahoo’s Right Media started to build “real-time bidding” software, launching the programmatic era.
2008: Apps, defined as mobile software applications that are not pre-installed on a device, begin rolling out to the public, usually take the form of games, productivity helpers, or messaging services.
2016
Total U.S. advertising spend reaches $180.5B, of which $72.09B is in Digital (40%) and $45.95B is in Mobile (25%) (eMarketer)
2018: Following a surge in popularity in recent years, U.S. AR users climb from 37.6M in 2017 to 59.6M in 2018, and VR users climb from 22.5M to 34.7M. Many developers see the impending roll-out of 5G as critical to even more explosive growth.
2019
$238.63B total US advertising spend (eMarketer). Total digital ad spending in the US will grow 19% to $129.34 billion this year—54.2% of estimated total US ad spending.
2020
TV advertising spend - $69.5B; Digital Video: $16.7B
2010 | 2014
30% of the total population (93.1M Americans) listen to Internet radio.
2010 | 2014
49.5% of the total population (159.6M Americans) listen
to Internet Radio, a 65% growth since 2010.
1994
99% of U.S. households have a radio and car radios are ubiquitous.
2002 | 2008
Full-length CD’s decline to having 77.8% market share of U.S. sound recording industry, a decline of 14% since 2002. Digital downloads climb to a 12.8% market share, a 25X increase in the same time frame.
2019
In the near future, U.S. Adults are projected to spend more time listening to digital
audio than radio.
1994
98.2% of U.S. households have a TV (unchanged since the mid-1970s).
2009 | 2013
14% of adults online post video content on the internet.
2009 | 2013
31% of adults online post video content on the internet, more than double since 2009.
2007 | 2010
57% of adults online have used the internet to watch or download video.
2007 | 2010
69% of adults online have used the internet to watch or download video, a growth
of 21% since 2007.
2017
67% of consumers watch video on their smartphones daily, while 74% watch video on their smartphones overall.
Click the timeline dots to find out more about each new event in media:
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VOICE AI
STREAMING
AUDIO
SATELITE
RADIO
INTERNET RADIO
RADIO
MOBILE VIDEO
CONNECTED TV
STREAMING
VIDEO
UGC
VIDEO
DIGITAL VIDEO
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1999: Wireless Internet starts rolling out commercially to the public.
2002 | 2008
Full-length CD’s own 90.5% market share of U.S. sound recording industry. Digital downloads have 0.5% market share.
1995
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Video Channels
Audio Channels
Media Landscape
Stats
Event
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TV
PRE 1990s
1993
NOW
2019
Podcast creation also continues to grow, with more than 700,000 podcasts and 29 million podcast episodes.
1994 | 2019
Total U.S. advertising spend reaches $150B, with newspaper making up 23% market share ($34B).
1994 | 2019
Total U.S. advertising spend reaches $238.63B. Total digital
ad spending in the U.S. will grow
19% to $129.34 billion this
year — 54.2% of estimated
total U.S. ad spending.
US Census Bureau
Pew
Pew
Pew
Pew
Verizon Media
US Information Agency
Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
eMarketer
eMarketer
eMarketer
TechCrunch
Pew
eMarketer
eMarketer
PODCASTS
Video CHANNELS
Video CHANNELS
AUDIO CHANNELS
Audio CHANNELS
