Media Time Will Tilt Digital in France in 2017.

Next year will mark a major milestone for media consumption in France. According to eMarketer’s latest forecast of time spent with media, the average adult will spend more time with digital media per day than TV, a first for that country. Also next year, time spent with mobile devices will surpass desktop and laptop time.

In 2017, eMarketer estimates, adults in France will spend almost 4 hours per day online on desktop or laptop PCs or with nonvoice mobile activities. This compares to 3 hours and 51 minutes watching television. Daily TV viewing time will actually rise slightly, by 0.1%, while total digital media consumption will be up by just over 5.0%. In another first for the country, next year adults in France will spend more time accessing the internet through mobile means rather than desktop or laptop PCs. This year, the average adult will spend 1 hour 41 minutes on nonvoice mobile activities, compared with 1 hour and 44 minutes of internet use on desktops and laptops.

Although mobile media consumption is booming, this year adherence to traditional media, such as print and radio will still be relatively popular in France. This year, eMarketer expects, adults will spend 35 minutes a day with print, compared with 3 hours and 46 minutes for digital. Time spent with both newspapers and magazines is forecast to drop this year, by 3.1% and 2.4%, respectively. By 2018, eMarketer predicts, adults will spend just 34 minutes per day with print, compared with 4 hours and 7 minutes for digital.

“Over 70% of France’s internet users also have a smartphone this year, eMarketer estimates, and that share will reach 76% in 2017,“ said senior analyst Karin von Abrams. “At the same time, all major online information and service providers, not to mention Facebook, Twitter and other popular social networks, now cater for mobile users with sophisticated, user-friendly apps or mobile sites. So it’s no surprise to find that mobile devices claim an increasing share of time spent on the web. We expect that trend to continue in 2017, as well.“