18 Media Technologies, Sorted by Adoption Rate

The Chart of the Week is a weekly Visual Capitalist feature on Fridays.

As you read this, know that you are not alone.

Statistically speaking, over 50% of people are consuming media in some form at this given moment.

In fact, the latest data shows that Americans spend over 12 hours per day consuming media in various forms. This means that people spend more time consuming media than they do working or sleeping – a prolific insight that explains why companies like Apple, Alphabet, Facebook, and Netflix have exploded in size and dominance over the last decade.

Media Adoption in 2018

Using the most recent survey data from Jacobs Media, we can get a sense of how all of this media is actually being consumed.

The following data shows the survey results of 64,289 radio listeners in North America to highlight the adoption rates for 18 different media technologies, ranging from television to smartwatches.

Conventional mediums like television still reign supreme for now.

However, it’s worth noting that the intersection of media and technology is a rapidly-evolving space – and there are several mediums that are jumping up the rankings fast.

Movers and Shakers

We previously covered the ultra-competitive battle for smart speaker market share, and the data here gives further indication to how fast the space is evolving. In the 2018 edition of the survey, smart speakers held a 21% penetration rate – that’s almost double the rate in the 2017 survey, which was only at 11%.

In the video streaming space, Netflix continues its rapid growth – something that was also evident in the internet minute graphic that we shared with you earlier in the week. Users watching Netflix at least once per week jumped from 41% to 52% between 2017 and 2018.

Finally, in other brand news, Facebook is used on a weekly basis by 74% of respondents. Other social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat were well behind Facebook in overall media usage, but are still growing in terms of users.