• by Wayne Friedman , May 30, 2017

Worldwide consumer spending on media content and technology is growing at a faster pace than global inflation and consumer price index rates.

PQ Media says there was a 7.2% gain in global average media consumer spending to $299.97 in 2016. Growth drivers include growing demand for digital media content and lower price hikes for new mobile devices.

In fact, digital media content and tech comprised nearly 70% of overall global consumer spending on all media content and tech (traditional and digital) in 2016, the researcher found.

Global inflation has been around 2.8%, according to a recent estimate from Yardeni Research -- with the consumer price index up 4.1% for “emerging” economies and up 1.8% for “advanced” economies.

The highest spending was in the U.S., where consumers spent an average of $1,289 in 2016 on all media and technology -- a 5.8% gain over 2015.

Average U.S. digital media and technology consumer spending grew 11.1% to $754.42, while traditional media spending was slightly up 0.9% to $534.11.

The lowest-spending country globally among top 20 markets was India, where consumers spent $54 per person.

Global consumer spending on digital media content and technology is rising much faster than with traditional media content and technology. Digital media spending grew 12.2% to $1.05 trillion in 2016, with traditional media content/technology up only 1.6% to $593.19 billion.