Millennials have been called the “generation that won’t spend,” but at least when it comes to their media-purchasing habits, that appears to be untrue. According to a recent report, this generation is ponying up some serious cash for movies, music, video games and other media content.
Consultancy Deloitte predicts that North American millennials (18-34-year-olds) will spend a whopping $62 billion on media content this year. That’s about $750 per person in the United States and Canada.
“The reality is that millennials are spending less on traditional media than they did in the past, and less than older generations, but they are still spending,” the report says.
Millennials devote a surprisingly big chunk of their media spending to pay television. Re/code reports:
Deloitte estimates that 70 percent of millennials live away from their parents’ homes — and eight out of 10 will pay a monthly fee for television in 2015. So much for all the discussions about “cord nevers,” a group who opt never to pay for a cable or satellite TV subscription. According to the firm’s projections, four-fifths of millennials will spend an average of $80 a month on pay TV packages.
If you break down millennials’ yearly $750 media spending, Deloitte said it would look something like this:
- Pay television: $316.
- Music: $125.
- Computer games: $100.
- Movies: $75.
- Books: $60.
- Streaming video: $40.
- Live sports: $25.
- Newspapers: $19.
The equipment and Internet access required to obtain media content can make a huge dent in millennials’ wallets. “Deloitte estimates the typical millennial — someone who owns a new smartphone, replaces his or her computer and tablet every four years and buys a game console every five years — will spend roughly $3,000 a year on hardware and connectivity,” Re/code said.
Whatever your generation, you may be able to cut down on costs for your screen time, as Stacy Johnson explains in this video.
Between iTunes music purchases, e-books, print books for the kids, college football tickets, movies, cable TV, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video and music, my family spends quite a bit on media content. In my defense, a lot of the spending occurs in the cold winter months in northern Montana, when we don’t often leave the house for fear of turning into icicles.
How much money do you spend on media content? Share your thoughts below or on our Facebook page.
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