Mind the gap: Winning the battle for consumer attention

(19 pages)

Success in the media industry has long been defined by quantity, or how many hours people spend consuming content. Yet not all consumption is created equal. An additional critical element that today determines media success and the ability to turn consumption into revenue is the quality of a consumer’s attention.

Earlier this year, we studied the pivotal role attention plays in monetising consumption globally.¹ And winning the battle for true consumer attention, defined by focus and intent, is also critical in the United Kingdom, where monetisation varies widely across media formats. Streamed, free, and paid TV play the most important role in the everyday life of UK consumers,² and there’s value to be captured for content creators and distributors, advertisers, and retail media networks able to command higher-quality attention.

This article examines the state of attention and monetisation in the UK media industry, supported by the latest findings on consumer sentiment. For the country’s media stakeholders, the implications are clear: Consumer focus and intent are levers to optimise marketing mix, drive resonance, and learn from underserved arenas. In today’s increasingly fragmented media environment, it’s not enough to simply find consumers—you need to understand how to capture their attention across mediums.

Introducing the attention equation: Not all attention is created equal

While the sheer volume and diversity of content vying for our attention continue to increase,³ the amount of time we spend consuming content has slowed: Since peaking at an average of approximately ten to 11 hours per day in 2020, media consumption in the United Kingdom has plateaued.⁴ This imbalance between content supply and time-limited demand makes the battle to monetise consumption fierce and complex. And while the simplest measurement is how long consumers spend with specific content and where, that misses the full story on consumer attention. For example, how should we think about the relative value of an hour spent at a sporting event, at an amusement park, or watching content on a social video platform, and what explains this difference?

That’s what we sought to determine through an in-depth survey of 7,000 consumers worldwide, including a representative sample of 997 in the United Kingdom. Our research found that only two-thirds of the variance in monetisation across mediums is explained by traditional commercial factors such as consumer value, platform sophistication, and industry structure (collectively, the commercial quotient). The other third is driven by the quality of consumers’ attention, or the attention quotient, measured by their focus and intent (Exhibit 1). The relationship is captured in what we call the “attention equation” (for more on the survey, see sidebar “About the research”).

A table defines the attention equation, understood as the commercial quotient plus the attention quotient, which equates to dollars per hour viewed. The commercial quotient is consumer value—the economic worth of consumers for a given medium based on component such as average income, age, and receptivity to advertising—multiplied by platform sophistication, which is the sophistication and effectiveness of the platform in which consumption takes place. The attention quotient is focus, which is the level of focus paid while consuming (eg, degree of multitasking, mind wandering), multiplied by intent, which is the purpose of the consumption defined by “the job to be done.” The commercial quotient provides two-thirds of the explanatory power while the attention quotient provides one-third. Source: Kabir Ahuja, Marc Brodherson, Jamie Vickers, and Jordan Bank, The ‘attention equation’: Winning the right battles for consumer attention, McKinsey, June 10, 2025

The attention quotient consists of two primary components: consumers’ level of focus, and their intent (the “job to be done,” or why they are consuming the content).

Consumer focus, or how actively consumers engage with content, varies across media types. In-person experiences generate the highest level of focus, similar to books (both digital and physical) and console and PC gaming. Our research found that the more focused consumers are, the more likely they are to spend.

Consumer intent—what consumers hope to get from the content they consume—typically falls into one of five categories, listed here from most to least valuable⁵:

“To enjoy something that I love.” In-person experiences such as live concerts and sporting events dominate this category, which also includes physical books and digital music.
“For education and information.” This is the primary intent of consuming newspapers, magazines, and podcasts.
“For social connection.” Unsurprisingly, social media sites dominate here.
“For light entertainment and relaxation.” Consumers turn to cable television, video streaming, social video, and mobile and console gaming to meet this need.
“For background ambience.” This is the primary role of radio.

About the research

The objectives of McKinsey’s global research were to deconstruct and quantify what makes some types of attention more valuable; understand how and why consumers approach attention differently; and detail winning strategies to capture and monetise it. The objective of the UK-specific research was to shine a light on the state of attention and monetisation in the United Kingdom’s media industry and surface insights on UK consumer behaviour regarding media and streaming.

McKinsey conducted an in-depth survey of 7,000 consumers across Brazil, Germany, India, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Best-in-class syndicated data was aggregated to assess revenue and consumption across attention arenas, with a regression model developed using survey inputs to predict monetisation. In the United Kingdom, survey data for 997 consumers was used as the input into a regression model and was aggregated with external data on UK players.

More details—including the methodology behind consumer segmentation, consumption and attention patterns across generations, media monetisation patterns across countries, and consumer attention mediums—can be found in McKinsey’s The ‘attention equation’: Winning the right battles for consumer attention.¹

For reference, this article uses the terms “medium” and “media arena” interchangeably to refer to a distinct format or channel through which consumers experience content. “Monetisation” refers to the total market revenue for a medium per total annual hours of consumption (sometimes per consumer).

Together, the components of the commercial and attention quotients have significant predictive power on total monetisation, both in advertising and in nonadvertising. In particular, the attention equation can provide a more accurate understanding of the value of consumer media monetisation—explaining variations in success of different areas based on focus and intent—and, in turn, help identify white space for advertisers, investors, and content creators and distributors.

The fragmented state of consumer attention in the United Kingdom

What are UK consumers focused on? And how is the media industry monetising their attention? We found that total media consumption in the United Kingdom is plateauing, the volume and diversity of content are at an all-time high, and there are increasing ways to consume content. But we also found that consumption does not necessarily drive proportional revenue or profits, and there are vast differences in the ability of mediums to monetise consumer attention.

Total media consumption in the United Kingdom is plateauing

Media consumption in the United Kingdom grew steadily from 2011 to 2020, peaking at an average of 634 minutes per day in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.⁶ But it has since plateaued and is even forecast to marginally decline, driven by return-to-office mandates for consumers and a reduction in time spent with traditional media. With finite hours in a day, this suggests that consumers are approaching time limits to content consumption. Interestingly, the overall level at which UK consumption has plateaued is about two hours a day lower than in the United States. This is likely due to the greater maturity of the US market, which operates as part of a larger media ecosystem with a greater number of platforms and content options due to sheer scale. At a behavioural level, US users consume more digital video on social media platforms than those in the United Kingdom, who engage more with text. Video commerce and livestream are also more mature in the United States (for more differences, see sidebar “The United States consumes more, and monetises better, than the United Kingdom”).⁷

UK consumers have more content—and more ways to access it—than ever

UK consumers are confronted by ever more content as well as more ways to access it (often at the same time), which fragments consumer attention between everything from short-form and long-form video to event livestreams, podcasts, and many more. The growth in diversity and volume is driven in part by a shift to digital: In the United Kingdom, digital mediums in 2011 accounted for 29 percent of daily time spent with media; in 2024, they accounted for about 65 percent.⁸ Consumers are also increasingly creating their own content, and time spent with user-generated content in the United Kingdom jumped from about 16 percent in 2018 to 27 percent in 2024.⁹

The United States consumes more, and monetises better, than the United Kingdom

While media consumption in the United Kingdom is in many ways similar to that of the United States, several differences emerge across consumer behaviour and monetisation: UK audiences consume about two fewer hours of content daily than their US counterparts,¹ with the largest gap seen in digital video—fueled by higher engagement among US social-video viewers and overall higher adoption of video-heavy social media platforms. A similar trend is evident with streaming video on demand (VOD) and advertising-based VOD, which US viewers consume, on average, approximately one hour more per day than UK viewers.

In addition, the industry also monetises consumer hours less effectively in the United Kingdom than in the United States.² Media consumption generates average revenues of $3.33 per hour in the United Kingdom and $4.56 in the United States—a significant difference.³ In other words, the United States not only commands more consumer time but also extracts greater value from each hour spent.

At a market level, the gap between the United Kingdom and the United States reflects both structural and cultural differences. Structurally, with a population of about 343 million, nearly five times the United Kingdom’s 69 million,⁴ the scale in the United States is decisive: the United States offers a far larger audience base and more opportunities for paid advertising across multiple platforms. Coupled with higher consumer spending power and looser regulation, this drives greater revenue per hour of media. By contrast, the United Kingdom’s stricter advertising limits and free-to-air mandates (for example, many of the “big” sports that drive mass audiences are on free to air services in the United Kingdom rather than pay-per-view, as in the United States) constrain monetisation. Culturally, British audiences are more resistant to heavy advertising loads, maintaining a preference for free or publicly funded media.

At the level of attention arenas, several notable differences between monetisation in the United States and the United Kingdom stand out:

Audio, particularly podcasts, shows the largest gap, with monetisation 2.7 times lower in the United Kingdom than in the United States. This reflects the relative immaturity of the UK podcast market as an advertising channel, representing only 0.3 percent of total digital advertising spend versus 0.8 percent in the United States.⁵
Amusement parks also show a substantial divergence, with UK monetisation 2.3 times lower than that of the United States, largely because the United States has more and larger “mega parks” than the United Kingdom.⁶

Consumer attention is also being fragmented across an increasing number of devices to consume content on, often simultaneously. For instance, three mediums (TV, radio, and desktop) accounted for 87 percent of media usage in 2011; by 2027, the top three mediums (smartphone, TV, and desktop) are expected to make up only 65 percent of time spent. Meanwhile, 83 percent of Gen Zers and 79 percent of millennials use various mediums simultaneously while consuming streaming video.¹⁰ Fragmentation of consumer attention—through further diversity in content and means of consumption—may be further amplified by the rise of AI-created content and AI-enabled devices.

Consumption alone does not necessarily drive revenue or profits

In the United Kingdom, consumption alone is not indicative of monetisation. While live viewing—defined as sporting events, live music, amusement parks, and theatrical video—generates 21 percent of market revenue, it makes up less than 1 percent of the 274 billion hours of content consumed annually. In contrast, audio streaming makes up 28 percent of consumer hours but only 5 percent of market revenue.¹¹ Our research found that growth in time spent consuming digital content in the United Kingdom isn’t necessarily expected to drive proportional revenue growth (Exhibit 2).

A stacked bar chart depicts the 2024 estimates of the share of content consumption, revenue, and earnings by content industry, as well as the 2024 to 2028 CAGR for consumption and revenue. The chart shows little relationship between the time spent consuming content by medium—the share of consumption—and the share of revenue and earnings. For instance, the first stacked bar showing share of consumption notes audio content comprises 28 percent of the 274 billion hours of content consumed in the UK in 2024, but just 5 percent of revenue and 3 percent of earnings. Conversely, live content such as sporting events and concerts do not register as content being consumed yet command 21 percent of total revenue and 12 percent of earnings. Note: Revenue figures do not include search revenue. Earnings figures represent enterprise profit pool. Profits from professional content creators (eg, studios) are included, but individual creators (eg, musicians, influencers) are not. Estimates are based on market average EBITDA margin. Gaming, social, streaming, linear video, and digital portion of audio segments are based on global and US benchmarks due to data availability. Source: McKinsey analysis of Emarketer; Global ad forecast, MAGNA, June 16, 2025; Global consumer media usage forecast 2025-2029, PQ Media, April 2025; Global telecom and entertainment & media outlook 2025–2029, PwC, July 2025; and Omdia

Of the primary media arenas we analyzed that are vying for consumers’ attention in the United Kingdom, the value of consumption per hour ranged from highs of $10 to $29 for sports events, live music, and amusement parks to lows of about $0.09 to $0.02 for audiobooks, digital music, radio, and podcasts.¹²

Despite all the excitement about the emergence of digital mediums, the ability of live events to drive revenue and profits is striking. Live sports events, the most effective medium in the United Kingdom, generate more than 1,400 times the revenue per hour of consumption than podcasts, underscoring vast differences in the ability of mediums to monetise the hours consumers spend (Exhibit 3).¹³

A bar chart depicts 2024 consumption for attention mediums in dollars per hour. In general, live events or physical media dominate UK consumption, with sports events, generating $28.59 per hour of consumption, followed by live music ($13.65), amusement parks ($10.41), and theatrical video ($6.69). Audio mediums generate the least: podcasts generate just 2 cents per hour of consumption, radio 4 cents, digital music 7 cents, and audiobooks 9 cents. Source: McKinsey analysis of Emarketer; Global ad forecast, MAGNA, June 16, 2025; Global telecom and entertainment & media outlook 2025–2029, PwC, July 2025; Omdia; PQ Media

Live sports, live music, amusement parks, PC and console games, theatrical video, and linear video sit on the efficient-monetisation frontier (Exhibit 4).¹⁴ These arenas generate more revenue per hour of engagement than any others with comparable levels of consumption.

While several legacy media types sit on or near the frontier, their declining growth in monetisation per hour suggests that their efficiency is at risk. In contrast, most digital media formats remain below the frontier—indicating untapped potential to improve monetisation efficiency. Social video stands out, however, with projected growth of more than 5 percent annually through 2028, suggesting that it may be approaching the efficient-monetisation frontier. To continue advancing, digital media will need to not only continue capturing consumer hours but also enhance its ability to monetise time spent. Achieving this will require a deeper understanding of consumer attention.

Mind the attention gap: Winning the battle for UK consumer attention