TV is one of the strongest players - spreading to handsets all over the world

Yesterday I had the pleasure to preview the first episode of channel ten´s Biggest Loser Australia, and I was stoked! Such an amazing show, bringing us insights of how different people are. Some sit on the couch and eat all day, some have been brought up in broken families and are forever seeing themselves as victims, others eat salads and run around 24-7. Some train hard, others never. Some cry, some laugh. Some are happy, some are not. TV is excellent in bringing us stories that makes us feel for our peers, see beyond the surface and tap into the emotional and physical life of our neighbours. TV used in a smart way humbles and amplifies the love in the world.

According to Ad Age Insights' white paper, Global Media Habits 2010, by Greg Lindsay, TV is one of the 10 trends that are shaping media consumption in traditional and emerging media markets.
1) Even relatively poor populations now consider TV a necessity.
In 2010, nearly half of Indian households have TV, up from less than one-third in 2001. But in urban areas, that figure jumps to 96%. (Compare that to 7% of Indians who use the internet.) In Kenya, the TV-penetration rate rose from roughly 60% to 70% from 2005 to 2009.

2) Despite the internet, we're watching more TV, not less.
The average American watched 280 minutes of TV each day in 2009, more than four-and-a-half-hours worth and a three-minute increase compared to the year before. A similar rise can be seen around the world, where the average human being watched three hours and 12 minutes worth of TV a day.

3) What is the world watching? Football, 'American Idol'-like contests and telenovelas.
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the most watched TV event in history, broadcast in every country (including North Korea). More than one-third of Afghanistan tunes into "Afghan Star," that country's version of "American Idol." And Brazil's Globo network has broadcast locally produced soap operas since the 1970s, many of which reach 80 million viewers.

4) The U.S. and Western Europe are losing newspaper circulation, but the rest of the world is experiencing a newspapers boom.
In both number of titles and circulation, Asia, Africa and Latin America are climbing at an annual double-digit pace. And China and India are now home to nearly half the world's top 100 dailies, with the average newspaper boasting a circulation of 109,000 or more. In India alone, the number of paid dailies has surged by 44%, to 2,700 titles since 2005, accounting for more than one-fifth of all newspaper titles on the planet.

5) Here's why you need to keep an eye on Facebook.
When it comes to time spent on the site, Facebook crushes all rivals, with six hours vs. less than half that time for every other site in the top 10. Facebook's user base is 517 million, 70% of whom live outside the U.S.

6) Cyber cafes are the entry for emerging market populations to get online.
The innovation of "cyber cafés" has helped spread internet use in emerging markets. In South Korea, people can rent broadband access for roughly 80 cents an hour, eliminating the need for costly monthly subscriptions, and leading to Koreans' embrace of social networking and multiplayer online gaming.

7) BRIC leads for online video consumption.
Brazil, Russia, India, China and Indonesia are home to the most avid consumers of online video. Internet users in China and Indonesia, for example, were 26% more likely than the average user globally to watch online video, while Indian viewers were 21% more likely and both Russians and Brazilians were 11% more likely. Increasingly, the internet will become TV. In 2009, one third of all internet traffic was video. This year, that figure will climb to 40%, on its way to a projected 91% by 2014, according to Cisco.

8) Internet usage and penetration rates are hobbled by access costs. Mobile isn't.
Only 81 million Indians (7% of the population) use the internet, but six times as many (507 million) have mobile phones. The same pattern is playing out worldwide. Witness PC vs. mobile penetration rates for China (20% vs. 57%); India (4% vs. 41%); Brazil (32% vs. 86%); and Indonesia (5% vs. 66%).

9) Netbooks, e-readers, tablets will drive growth of internet use.
The proliferation of new screens, netbooks, e-readers and tablets is expected to quadruple global IP traffic by 2014, according to Cisco. By then, the equivalent of 12 billion DVDs will be criss-crossing online monthly. The biggest growth driver is video -- data-rich 3D and HD streams delivered to computers, TV sets and to phones, which will lead global mobile traffic to double every year for the foreseeable future.

10) For the foreseeable future, the forecast for the planet's media habits is in a word, more.
Time spent with computers has tripled over the past decade among kids age 8 to 18. The bulk of this group's time is spent on social media, followed by games, video sites and instant messaging. The average kid packs a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes worth of media content into a daily seven and a half hours of media exposure. Just think how this group will consume media in 10 years when they enter the work world and start consuming in earnest.