Deloitte’s State of the Media Democracy survey reviews media consumption preferences of nearly 2,000 consumers, ages 14 to 75 years old in the US, revealing significant trends including increased access to content driving consumption, smartphones continuing to challenge other devices and the role of digital video recorders in preserving consumers’ cable and satellite TV subscriptions.

Around five million tablets will be sold to people who already own one in 2012, generating up to £1.3 billion in revenue for technology businesses. It is worth remembering that it took several decades after introduction for more than five percent of households to have more than one car, phone, radio or TV.

• Consumer technology will continue to see robust demand in 2012, with record numbers of devices (televisions, computers, mobile phones, MP4 players) sold globally
• Multiple ownership of tablets proliferates: five million tablets will be sold to people who already own one, generating up to £1.3 billion in revenue
• By the end of 2012, solid state storage will be the storage technology used in 90 per cent of small devices such as MP3 players, smartphones and tablets, up from 20 per cent in 2006

Smartphones are growing fast

Americans’ love of smartphones continues to grow. The number of households owning smartphones jumped to 42 percent in 2011 from 25 percent in 2009. Furthermore, the number of consumers interested in purchasing a smartphone in the near future increased to 52 percent in 2011 from 40 percent in 2010.

As adoption of smartphones grows, Americans are beginning to use them as “all in one” devices for a number of different tasks. In 2011 the survey found increases in Americans using: text messaging (up to 78 percent in 2011 from 71 percent in 2009), mobile online search (46 percent in 2011 compared to 30 percent in 2009, GPS for directions (37 percent in 2011 versus 22 percent in 2009) and even online banking, which was tracked for the first time in 2011 (19 percent).

Further analysis here at NMA