• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, September 30, 2013

According to a new report by PQ Media, digital media spending, including unit purchases, subscription access, hardware, software and related services, accounted for 58.7% of worldwide expenditures on overall digital and traditional media content & technology in 2012

With expanded broadband and wireless capabilities, increased demand for digital content and devices, and the emerging generation of digital natives, global consumer spending on digital media content & technology grew 11.9% in 2012 to $860.39 billion

Consumer spending on digital media increased at a 14.5% CAGR in the 2007-12 period, while traditional media expenditures rose only 1.4% compounded annually. Average spending per consumer worldwide nearly doubled in the 2007-12 period, reaching $161.83 per capita in 2012, according to the report. Concurrently, end-user spending on traditional media inched up only $3 over the five-year period.

According to the report, consumer spending on digital media content & technology is expected to grow 11.9% again in 2013, and is forecast to climb at a 10.8% CAGR over the next five years to $1.44 trillion in 2017. Digital media growth is being boosted by the rapid increase in penetration rates of smartphones and broadband internet access worldwide, as well as growing middle classes in the emerging BRIC markets, and heavy rich media consumption by GenX and Millennial consumers, says the report.

Patrick Quinn, President & Publisher, PQ Media, says “… the most tech-savvy markets are those with… the world’s heaviest users of digital media… and the highest per-capita annual spending on digital media and technology… consumer digital media spending is… driving the shift in advertising and marketing budgets to digital media channels… ”

Total spending on broadband and wireless data subscriptions surpassed $100 billion in 2012, while four other digital media segments topped $50 billion, including digital games, apps & microtransactions; multiplayer online games; computer tablets; and computer laptops & notebooks.

Other key findings from the study include:

• Per-capita spending on digital media will jump to $259.48 in 2017, an increase of almost $100 over 2012
• US consumer spending on digital media content & technology increased 7.1% to $158.79 billion in 2012, as America remained the world’s largest digital media market, though China will surpass the US as the world’s largest market in 2017
• BRIC countries grew the fastest in the 2007-12 period, generating gains of more than 16% in 2012, led by Russia, up 18.2%. Brazil, India and China followed
• The average consumer in the most tech-savvy markets spent more than $800 per capita on digital media in 2012
• Digital media spending exceeded 50% of total media content & technology expenditures in 10 of the top 15 countries worldwide in 2012, with South Korea ranked first with an 84.2% share

To access the report, please visit PQ Meida here.