Deloitte’s ‘State of Media Democracy’ survey shows a strong demand for user-generated content, but also considerable cause for celebration among traditional media producers.

Over half (51%) of US consumers are watching or reading content made by others. Among Millennials (13-24 year-olds), this figure jumps to 71%, Nearly half (40%) of the entire population are creating their own entertainment in some way, such as by editing movies, music or photos. Again this is weighted towards the younger end of the age spectrum, but a quarter of respondents over sixty also said they were creating their own entertainment.

On the other hand, the influence of old media formats is far from failing, the survey suggests. The overwhelming majority (79%) of respondents discuss their favourite TV programmes with friends, family and colleagues. Almost three-quarters (72%) read print magazines, even if the same information is available online. Nearly a quarter (23%) expect to read more books this year.

Mobile devices are becoming a significant force in entertainment media, after a. Almost half (46%) of 13-24 year-olds “embrace their cell phones as an entertainment device”, though what this means in practice is left unclear. In any case, more than half (56%) take photos with their phones, including 37% of over-sixties.

Thus, the survey suggests that we’re at something of a transition point, where both old and new media can rightly claim to be significant forces in the industry. However, the online media industry faces a considerable issue when it comes to the acceptability or otherwise of advertising, historically the mainstay of most publications’ income:

• 76% of all consumers find Internet ads more intrusive than print ads, and 64% pay more attention to print ads than those online.
• 28% of all consumers would pay for online content to avoid seeing ads.
• While offline advertising is effective in driving web traffic, 84% of all consumers visit a website after finding it through a search engine and 82% do so because of a personal recommendation.

An overview of the survey is available on the Deloitte US website here.