Attention economy After the lockdown boom

The 20,000 foot view:  The pandemic-triggered change in everyday life resulted in a boom in entertainment consumption, which, in turn, saw growth in emerging formats as well as a temporary rebound for traditional formats. As the world starts to ease back into pre-pandemic routines, much of this newly found entertainment time will go – but the declines will not be evenly felt, with the emergence of clear winners and losers in the post-boom attention economy.

Key Insights

• The lockdown            boom started to recede in            first half of 2020: total            entertainment time was            hours in            down            from            2020, but still                       from            2020.            of the time            in lockdown was gone by           
• The biggest            victors were also among the            2021 losers. Audio (radio, podcasts,            surged during            2020 (up            but            half of those gains wiped            within six months, with average            down to            in            2021
• Music streaming            a big lockdown winner –            by            between            2020 and            2021,            as this was below the            average, it increased its share            both audio time and overall            time
• Apple Music            Amazon Prime Music weekly active            (WAUs) saw the sharpest falls            music streaming hours in            2021,            Deezer and SoundCloud WAUs saw            least. Similar patterns were also            in audio consumption 
• Entertainment consumption                       was most impacted by the            of pandemic restrictions. Being the            likely group to return to            routines, these consumers saw weekly            hours down by            and video            by           
• Combined average            hours were            in            2021, down                       2020, but still up from                       Social video was the only            category to grow in            2021,                       from            2020 and (with social            one of just two categories            grew in            2021
• Post-pandemic behaviour            triggering a rebalancing of the            economy, transforming it from an            market concept into something that            shape everyday business decisions, resulting            both winners and losers in            coming year