A survey by Bain & Company among more than 6,000 consumers in Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Russia, UK and USA reveals important differences in behavior between developed countries and those in developing what online content consumption is concerned.

According to the report, “The Age of Curation: From Abundance to Discovery”, consumers of digital content-video, video games, music and books-are moving away from the traditional model of ownership by households for individual rental model by the user driven by the rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets, which increases pressure on content publishers to increase investment and innovation.

Among other findings of the study include:

Possession of smartphones in developed markets (USA, UK, France and Germany) increased from 49% average registered in 2012 to 64% in 2013;while in developing markets (Brazil, Russia, India and China) the increase was 24 to 37%.

In the case of tablets, the use of these devices grew from 18% on average in 2012 to 39% in 2013 in developed markets, and 13 to 21% in developing markets.

Almost 70% of subscribers to video services, as well as 60% of subscribers to streaming music services in developed markets today declared consume more online content than consuming three years ago.

Owners of multiple devices consume more videos than the average device users in general

• Approximately 70% of users of multiple devices in developed markets said they saw more videos today than three years ago, while the figure drops to 45% for the average user devices.
• In developing markets, it is 83% of users of multiple devices which claims to see more video online than in 2000, compared to 45% of device users.

In the UK and US, 40% or more of consumers read at least one e-book in the past year. In Germany, the rate drops to a little over 25%, and in France to below 20%.

Online video, both short-form and long, is consumed by between 60 and 75% of consumers.

The streaming music services like Spotify, Google Music or Pandora have almost double its subscribers since 2012. The highest rates were recorded in the US and France (over 40%), while in the UK and Germany was below 30%.

According to Bain & Company, the investment in original content is crucial: The editors of content in all formats are still in the best position to boost R & D, content production, audience development and monetization, though platforms like Netflix they are already experimenting with the development of its own original content. Media companies can still rely on traditional audiences to monetize content, as they are kept in a unique position to build intellectual property and content libraries that generate massive today and in the future audiences – even on digital platforms.

Publishers must invest in the acquisition of consumer data and information on marketing, programming and creative to compete with digital platforms, which have more direct access to data and access customer behavior processes.

“More than ever, the winning strategies should be based on the quality of the original content, which serves to highlight in an increasingly saturated market. But a thorough understanding and analysis of consumer behavior will also be needed,” concluded Laurent Colombani, partner Bain & Company and lead author of the study, “from the point of view of Bain, the balance of these two factors represents both the biggest challenge and the most promising opportunity for media companies today”.