Brands and their agencies are facing an increasingly complex media landscape, with more and more media being used concurrently while attention is being stretched, meaning ad budgets will have to stretch even further and wider to get the message across.
So says the 2024 IPA Making Sense – The Commercial Media Landscape report, which reveals that while the patterns by which Brits are consuming commercial media have remained relatively unchanged over time, the methods and channels by which this content is being consumed have changed drastically in line with evolving technology.
The report draws on IPA TouchPoints 2024 data to lift the lid on how commercial media consumption has shifted over the past nine years, including through lockdowns, by analysing time spent, share of time and weekly reach of each commercial channel across four key audiences – all adults, 16 to 34s, 35 to 54s and 55+. It also reveals the correlation of media habits between the different generations and charts the consumption of media by device.
When comparing the shape of the media day in 2005 (when the IPA TouchPoints survey first started) to 2024, the data shows that people still watch video in the evening, audio is still peaking in the morning, OOH builds as the day progresses and tails off towards the evening, and reading text is at a comparatively lower but consistent level throughout the day.
There were some deviations to these patterns during lockdown (2020-2021) while the population was stuck at home, however, as the pandemic has subsided, the data reveals in 2024 that these broad patterns of media usage have migrated back towards the long-established norms.
The share of commercial curated media – which are content driven and do not include direct mail and OOH which are context driven – for all adults has decreased by two percentage points, from 66% in 2015 to 64%, and for 16 to 34s this share has shifted the most, from 76% in 2015 to 67% in 2024.
Despite this overall slight decline, this figure is four percentage points higher than it was in the 2020 lockdown and reveals that almost two-thirds of adults’ curated commercial media time is spent with commercial media channels and that the impact of subscription media is less significant than previously imagined.
Meanwhile, the amount of time per day spent with curated commercial media has dropped by 17 minutes for all adults and by 24 minutes for 16- 34s, when compared to 2015 figures.
While for 16 to 34s non-commercial media consumption time is largely driven by subscription video and audio services, for older audiences, non-commercial media consumption is primarily driven by BBC TV, radio and news, although subscription services represent a small but relatively stable share.
For the sixth year running, with the exception of OOH, no single commercial media channel can reach 90%+ of all adults per week. In fact, the top five commercial media properties by weekly reach for all adults in 2024 are ITV/STV (51%); Facebook (48%); YouTube (45%); Channel 4 (44%) and Instagram (34%).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the widespread adoption of mobile phones, the share of total curated commercial media time spent on smartphones by all adults has increased 12 percentage points between 2015 and 2024, going from 20% to 32%, which is up from 30% in lockdown.
For 16 to 34s, these figures have increased considerably from 33% in 2015 to 48% in 2024. For 34 to 54s, the figures were 19% in 2015 and 34% in 2024. For over 55s, this figure has gone from 6% in 2015 to 16% in 2024, leaping over radio set, PC/laptop and print into second place, behind the TV set.
Making Sense Report author Simon Frazier, who is also head of IPA TouchPoints marketing and data innovation said: “We are seeing that overall patterns of commercial media consumption have reverted to pre-pandemic, established patterns, however, the methods of delivering commercial media are clearly evolving in line with technological advancements and are therefore changing the landscape for planners considerably.
“While there is a decrease in both share of time and time spent with curated commercial media – I suspect mainly down to the decrease in linear broadcast TV viewing – it is perhaps surprising this isn’t greater given the perceived disruptive growth of subscription-based services which were formerly seen as taking commercial media share.
“And it may also point to the impact that certain SVoD offerings now incorporating advertising into their subscription models is having.
“What these slight decreases do mean, though, is that media investment will have to work harder to cut through. More than ever, a greater focus is needed on diverse media plans to maximise overall campaign performance as media opportunities shift.”
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