Halfway through 2025, notable trends are already emerging as to how consumers are shifting the way they spend their time with digital media this year.

"Over the last 10 years, we've seen digital time spent with digital media double, exactly double," said our analyst Oscar Orozco on a recent episode of the "Behind the Numbers" podcast. "From four hours and 18 minutes a day on average, to eight hours and 36 minutes a day."

Here are some of the largest ways consumers' time spent with media is changing in 2025, and what it means for advertisers.

Peeking at peak media

The overall time that US consumers spend with media at large is expected to remain fairly flat this year, only growing 0.5%, according to EMARKETER's June forecast.

However, the digital is in the details. The average time US consumers spend per day with traditional media is forecasted to fall 4.4%, however, time with digital media is expected to grow 3.0%.

• The average US consumer will spend eight hours and 36 minutes (8:36) a day with digital media this year, compared with four hours and eight minutes (4:08) with traditional media, according to our June forecast.

What it means: Marketers can't expect any more swift growth across the board in digital channels. It's now necessary that marketers track where their target audiences live online to get successful campaign results.

CTV's victory

Connected TV (CTV) has not only become the dominant channel for consumers' small screen viewing, its growth is also outpacing the growth of time spent with mobile devices.

Our analysts forecast that CTV viewing will surpass traditional linear television for the first time in 2025.

• Consumers will spend two hours and 35 minutes (2:35) a day with CTV this year, compared with two hours and 29 minutes (2:29) with linear TV, per our forecast.

Additionally, last year was the first time in a decade that US consumers' time spent with mobile devices was less than 50% (49.3%) of their total time spent with digital media.

"Primarily, we are shifting our time back in front of gigantic screens sitting on the couch," said our analyst Ethan Cramer-Flood. "It's not like our time spent with mobile is declining. It's just the share is declining because our time with the bigger screens is surging much more."

What it means: CTV has grown to be a necessary channel for all marketing campaigns to explore. The growing targeting and measurement proficiency of CTV advertising tools makes for an easier approach to the medium

Reddit's big rise

As many social media platforms are in a state of limbo, if not outright decline, Reddit is seeing bigger time spent gains YoY than any other social platform tracked by EMARKETER.

Among Reddit users, we forecast that time spent will grow 3.7% this year, to an average of 32 minutes (0:32) a day, according to our June forecast.

• Instagram is the next highest growing social platform, with its users expected to spend 1.3% more time on the app this year, per our forecast.
• TikTok is due for a sharp decline in time spent among its users. We forecast a drop of 6.9% to an average of 52 minutes (0:52) a day.

What it means: Shifts in social media usage require marketers to keep a close eye on where their target audiences are socializing online. Listening tools, customer surveys, and campaign metrics can help locating your most valuable audiences.

Spotify saturation

Time spent with Spotify appears to have plateaued somewhat this year. Among adult Spotify listeners, time spent is set to only grow by 0.1% in 2025 to 52 minutes (0:52) a day, according to our June forecast.

• This follows broader digital audio trends, with time spent with digital audio by listeners only set to grow 0.7% this year to an hour and 53 minutes (1:52) a day, per our forecast.
• Meanwhile, time spent with podcasts by listeners is forecasted to grow 2.1% this year to 50 minutes (0:50) a day.

What it means: Make sure that you're getting the ROI you expect from advertising on the platform and strategize for the platform's light growth in the near future.