2025 media consumption trends

From the social media platforms your audience hangs out on to whether streaming is in or out, media consumption trends can give you great insights into your audience — making them an important foundation for any successful marketing or ad campaign. 

Media consumption refers to the type of media people consume and how often they engage with it. Examples of media include: social media content, TV and film, podcasts, music, digital and physical publications and video. 

From ads on Netflix to which products their favorite creators are sharing on YouTube and TikTok, media consumption trends show you where consumers are spending their time, what kind of media they prefer and which content and platforms they’re ditching. 

Media consumption trends can also show you both the types of ads consumers want to see and where they want to see them, giving you a roadmap to “hacking” their buying habits. 

Read on for 10 of the top media consumption trends for 2025. 

Ads on video streaming services may not be the best way to reach consumers in 2024. 

The team at WIRED captures consumers’ disillusionment with the platforms, calling out Netflix as “No longer chill”: 

“The promise of streaming TV was that you could watch whatever you wanted, when you wanted. And for a while, that was mostly true. But recently, streaming services have started to dial back the nice-guy stuff and reel in the freebies. 

Companies across the stream-o-sphere are tweaking subscription tiers, raising prices, and canceling unprofitable shows. Netflix has introduced an ad-supported tier to its formerly ad-free service, and even started cracking down on people sharing account credentials. And corporate shake-ups at HBO Max have resulted in gobs of stuff being removed from that platform entirely.”

In the first half of 2024, 40% of U.S. consumers say they’ve canceled at least one subscription service in the last six months. While 44% say they engage in subscription cycling — jumping between one or two video streaming subscriptions every six months. 

Ad-supporting streaming is one way providers cut costs for consumers with 46% of subscribers saying they subscribe to one ad-supported tier of a paid subscription video streaming service. Despite this, ads peppered between Netflix binges mostly fail to capture subscribers’ attention. Only 18% say these ads impact their buying decisions. While 54% of consumers say social media ads influence what they buy. 

📈 Trend pros: 

• Subscription cycling highlights the importance of placing your ads across multiple streaming platforms.

• TV ads can be a costly business, this trend highlights the power of social media for influencing buying behaviors. 

📉 Trend cons: 

• If you’re spending a large chunk of your marketing budget on TV ads, you may want to repurpose some of your ads for social 

👀 Trend in action: 

With so many users remaining skeptical about the ads they see on video streaming platforms, it’s a wise choice to focus more of your ad spend on the social media channels that are most popular with your customer segments. 

TikTok is becoming one of the most popular ecommerce platforms for younger shoppers. 58% of TikTokers say they’ve used TikTok Shop for shopping inspiration. Notably, adults ages 18 to 24 are 3.2 times more likely than the average consumer to buy something they see on TikTok Shop. 

“Once written off as a silly dance-video fad, TikTok has become one of the most prominent, discussed, distrusted, technically sophisticated and geopolitically complicated juggernauts on the internet.” — Drew Harwell 

From influencer recommendations to an algorithm that personalizes product suggestions based on users' interests, TikTok is a great platform for getting your brand and products in front of the right audience. 

📈 Trend pros: 

• TikTok has some of the lowest customer acquisition rates when compared to other ecommerce platforms.

• TikTok offers a number of ways to promote your products to consumers such as the product showcase tab, LIVEs and in-feed videos.

📉 Trend cons: 

• TikTok is predominantly used by Gen Z shoppers and may not be the best choice if you’re targeting older demographics. 

👀 Trend in action: 

Take your products to TikTok. Experiment with video shopping ads and LIVE shopping ads and see which style of ad performs best with your audience.

When it comes to digital media consumption in 2024, more and more users are turning to online creators for their product and media recs. 

While 54% of consumers say they follow their favorite content creators on every social media platform they share on. 

47% of Gen Zs and a third of millennials say their favorite form of video content are live streams and social media videos. This shows us that many young consumers are prioritizing short-form video content from creators they admire and trust.

Notably, many consumers look to creators for recommendations on what to wear, watch and listen to. Deloitte says: 

“​​Around a third of consumers—and 59% of Gen Zs—surveyed often watch TV shows or movies on SVOD services after hearing about them from creators online. A similar share says they saw a movie in a theater because they kept seeing conversations about it on social media.

This may be due in part to algorithmic targeting, but it’s also likely buoyed by the buzz and virality that can sweep through social media communities. Engineering buzz is becoming more of a science, and savvy brands are learning to program for hype.”

📈 Trend pros: 

• Content creators are one of the best ways to tap into brand virality.

• Consumers trust creators far more than traditional advertising. Creators can help you build brand trust faster than many traditional forms of advertising. 

📉 Trend cons: 

• Content creators often charge high fees to promote brands. YouTube personalities charge an average of $187,500 for a sponsored video. 

👀 Trend in action: 

Content creators are one of the best ways to build hype around your brand and products. With pull across multiple social media platforms, creators can help get you in front of new audiences and help you build trust with consumers. 

“Everything’s Gonna Be Okay shattered my perceptions of what autism looked like: my earlier dismissal of my own suspicions had been based purely on stereotypes.”

— Raelke Grimmer

Watch this Short featuring Chloé Hayden of Heartbreak High.

Gen Z and millennials are the most diverse generations to date. More people in these generations reflect (or have the language to identify) a diverse range of sexual orientations, neurodiversity, genders, ethnicities and races than the generations that came before them.

Almost 70% of Black consumers and more than half of Hispanic, Asian, multiracial and Latinx consumers say it’s important for diverse creative teams to write and produce movies and TV shows. 

While 62% of LGBTQIA+ consumers say they expect the diversity they see on screen to match the diversity of the real world — compared to 45% of consumers who don’t identify as members of the LGBTQIA+ community. 

Despite these stats, 75% of consumers say they don’t feel represented in media and entertainment. In regards to diversity, social media fares better. 40% of respondents say that videos on social media are more diverse than shows and movies. 

On the marketing side, research shows that diverse teams perform better. McKinsey found that companies with more racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to see financial returns above their national industry medians. 

Writer Raelke Grimmer talks about how representation of women with autism on screen helped lead her to getting her autism diagnosis: 

“Matilda is the first television character I’ve strongly related to. The way many on-screen characters respond to difficult situations never resonated with me—I viewed them as calculated overdramatisations for the sake of ratings-pulling storylines. 

Yet both Everything’s Gonna Be Okay and more recently Netflix’s 2022 reboot of 90s television series Heartbreak High demonstrate that the issue is not overdramatization but a lack of neurodiverse representation. They are the first shows I’ve seen that accurately portray female autism on-screen. Each also included autistic women on the creative teams to shape and create these characters. Seeing this nuanced representation led directly to my formal diagnosis.”

📈 Trend pros: 

• This trend highlights an opportunity to help diverse consumers feel more represented.

• Calls attention to importance of diverse creative teams.

📉 Trends cons: 

• 90% of companies say improving racial and gender diversity is important when it comes to hiring. But conscious and unconscious bias and tokenism still undermine the creation and performance of diverse creative teams. 

👀 Trend in action: 

Diverse teams create diverse media. The more inclusive your creative teams, the more likely your creatives are to represent a diverse range of people that need to connect with media that reflects their lived experience. 

For more insights into improving representation in advertising, check out our interview with Katya Des Etages — Senior Research Executive at Channel 4.

Gen Z have always been skeptical about advertising. In the past, 63% of Gen Z say they use ad blockers and 99% say they’d hit skip on ads if it was an option.

But the latest stats suggest that the new generation may now be more trusting of ads than the generations who came before them. 

According to a report from the Advertising Association, 50% of 18-to-34-year-olds say they trust ads they’ve watched or listened to. While only 39% of 35 to 54-year-olds and 22% of people aged 50 and over say they trust ads. 

In terms of positive perceptions, 57% of 18 to 34-year-olds say they think the ad industry helps bring about positive social change in society. While half of people in this age category say that ads help them make more sustainable buying decisions. 

📈 Trend pros: 

• Ads aren’t dead, you just need to know how to connect your creative to your audience's values.

• While skepticism is still relatively high among older and younger generations, this trend underlines how ads can be a cause for social good — bringing into focus how ads can help consumers rethink their biases and make more sustainable choices.

📉 Trend cons: 

• While Gen Z sees the ad industry in a more positive light than before, older consumers still remain mistrustful.

👀 Trend in action: 

Tap into Gen Z’s values as, “inclusive consumers and socially progressive dreamers.” Ads that connect with Gen Z’s values, from diversity and inclusion to fighting the climate crisis, will continue to resonate most. 

Check out Dove’s, “The Code: A Dove Film,” for a great example of how advertising can support body positivity. 

Even though just as many women play video games as men, with 60% of Americans calling themselves gamers across the genders, women still feel shut out of the gaming community. 43% of women say they prefer solo adventures that play out in rich, story-driven worlds — making this style of game the most popular among this demographic. 

However, women often feel pushed out of other types of games — such as live streams. 42% of women gamers say they’ve experienced verbal abuse. While 30% say they’ve experienced sexual harassment while gaming. And many women say they feel underrepresented by the industry as a whole.

Here’s Deloitte:

“In the United States, just as many women play video games as men, but they tend to play in different gaming categories, fragmenting the opportunities for monetization and expansion. In general, men that game are more engaged with, and better represented by, the games industry. This could be a missed opportunity.”

In a recent article, Vogue writer Marie Le Conte notes how gaming is becoming imbedded in modern culture: 

“The fact is, there are an estimated 3.2 billion gamers in the world – this writer included – and by the end of last year the industry was worth a staggering £160 billion. You might not consider yourself a gamer, but there’s no getting away from gaming’s influence on our lives and culture. 

From prestige TV (see multi-Emmy nominated series The Last Of Us, based on the apocalyptic action-adventure game of the same name) to cinema (after Barbie, The Super Mario Bros Movie was this year’s second highest-grossing film) to the apps on your phone (Candy Crush Saga has, to date, been downloaded more than three billion times), it is, as video game executive Siobhan Reddy says, ‘the medium of our time.’”

📈 Trend pros: 

• Gaming’s influence is showing up across mediums. Whether you gamify your campaigns or bring gaming motives and references to your creatives, gaming can be a great way to connect with consumers. 

• There’s a huge gap in the market when it comes to targeting women gamers — giving game companies a perfectly-time opportunity to increase their market share.

📉 Trend cons: 

• While gaming is having its cultural moment, gaming motives may not be relevant to your industry or target audience. 

👀 Trend in action: 

The gaming stereotype of “nerdy guy in the basement,” is out. If you’re on the marketing team for a video game company: improve representation of women in your ads and address their concerns and anxieties around harassment. 

Snapchat is currently the 10th most popular social media platform, putting it below the likes of Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. 

Once a favorite for Gen Z teens, the app is losing popularity with younger users. This year, Snapchat has seen a 7.9% drop in daily users, bringing this number down to 19.9%. Last year, half of 18 to 24-year-olds were on Snapchat every day. This year, only 31.3% of Gen Z users are.

📈 Trend pros: 

• While Snapchat may be losing popularity with younger users, TikTok is growing in popularity with this demographic — making it a great platform for targeting the younger generation.

• Though Snapchat offers several great ad formats, like Geofilters and Snap Ads, Snapchat’s analytics tools are less comprehensive than some other platforms. As younger consumers move away from the platform, this trend gives you an opportunity to rethink your social media strategy and the functionality of the tools you’re using in your campaigns. 

📉 Trend cons: 

• Snapchat has always been one of the best platforms for marketing to younger consumers and the platform may have been a core part of your marketing strategy if you target a Gen Z audience.

👀 Trend in action: 

While Snapchat is still a popular social media platform, it may not be the best place to target Gen Z consumers. Until trends shift again, YouTube and TikTok may be the best platforms to build up your Gen Z audience.

Digital content subscriptions have dropped by 5.9% in 2024 to 29.8%. People in the 35 to 44 bracket have cut their subscriptions the most — with a drop in 20pp to 31.2%. On the other side, Gen Z have increased their digital content subscriptions by 17.2%. Right now, 50% of all Gen Z consumers subscribe to a digital publication.

And customized subscriptions are performing particularly well. Recurly says: 

“Customized subscription plans and add-ons are driving significant revenue, with astronomical growth on the horizon as more subscriptions adopt creative approaches to packaging. The 13.8% of digital media and entertainment subscriptions that offered customizations saw $871 million in incremental revenue, and the 18.4% of digital publishing subscriptions with customized offerings saw $5.7 million in revenue.”

📈 Trend pros: 

• Digital content a great opportunity to target consumers with interests that align with your niche.

• A digital content subscription tailored to a Gen Z audience may be a great source of recurring revenue for your brand.

📉  Trend cons: 

• Digital content subscriptions typically have a high cancellation rate.

• Digital content subscriptions can be a challenge to maintain as users expect high-quality, variable content that’s worth paying more for than your free content.

👀 Trend in action: 

Despite oscillating consumption trends among different demographics, don’t overlook digital content subscriptions when it comes to placing your ads. If paid digital content subscriptions are already part of your media strategy, lean into customized offerings. 

With 2.5 billion active users, YouTube currently ranks as the second most popular social media network among consumers (narrowly beaten out by Facebook). Marketers now rank YouTube as their most effective social media platform — growing 79% year over year. Beyond being a great place to find content from their favorite creators, consumers are also looking for personalized content and many brands and using YouTube to meet this need. 

HubSpot comments on the meditation app HeadSpace’s YouTube strategy: 

“The Headspace YouTube channel has almost 700K subscribers, and the team uses playlists to target different audiences. On their page, you’ll find “The Mindful Adventures of Unicorn Island” for kids and “Get Some Sleep” for those who need help getting rest. 

They’ve partnered with Star Wars on a themed kids playlist, and have curated meditation and music collections for studying, focus, emergencies and other challenging life situations. By catering to all the different types of people seeking out meditation, then further guiding visitors by what they’re trying to solve, Headspace is strengthening their community and providing a safe, comforting space online.”

📈 Trend pros: 

• Among marketers, YouTube stands out as the most effective social media platform.

• YouTube is a great channel to combine the marketing power of consumers’ preferred social media channel with the influence of content creators.

📉  Trend cons: 

• YouTube allows users to skip ads. Unless your ad has a great hook, YouTube may not be the best use of your marketing budget. 

• From regular filming and editing to cultivating your channel to meet the needs of your customer segments, YouTube can be one of the most time-consuming marketing channels.

👀 Trend in action: 

More and more consumers are heading to YouTube to get content personalized to their needs and interests or to watch videos from their go-to-creators. If you’re looking for inspiration on how to ace your YouTube marketing strategy, start by checking out Headspace’s YouTube channel. 

Since August, Meta Ads reporting has featured a ‘Threads Feed’ ad placement option — highlighting that marketers may soon be able to feature ads in the Threads feed. 

Watch this Short: Are New Placements Coming? - YouTube

Threads was launched in the summer of 2023 and quickly earned the title of the fastest mobile app to reach 150 million users. Hitting this record in just six days. Social media sentiment suggests that consumer opinions on the platform are still positive, but user sign ups have slowed. 

📈 Trend pros: 

• By being one of the first brands to get on Threads you may be able to enjoy an early adopter advantage.

• The integration with Instagram makes it easy to jump between both platforms and manage your accounts.

📉 Trend cons: 

• Threads is still a new platform. Despite the initial buzz, sign ups seem to be slowing down. While we recommend looking out for the new ad options, it may be a smart move to keep an eye on any potential shifts in consumer sentiment towards the platform. 

• Some marketing features are limited. You can’t send direct messages to users or use hashtags, limiting your reach. 

Trend in action:

While we wait to see whether or not Threads will bring ads to the Threads’ feed in 2025, don’t overlook the marketing potential of the platform right now. 

Partnerships with content creators and user contests are two great ways to build buzz around your brand.

From the rise of TikTok Shop and YouTube to consumers’ expressing more of an interest in seeing diversity on screen, 2024 media consumption trends give us a number of interesting insights into what consumers want to see in their ads, which platforms they’re using and their sentiment towards subscriptions. 

Once you’ve determined the right place to reach them, reach out to us to see how we can help you gain a better understanding of what resonates with them.