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Today there are more than 230 unique legal services in Europe, offering fans any musical genre at just a click, via à-la-carte downloads, streaming, high-quality streams with additional content, cloud based services, interacting on social networks, or live feeds from concerts. The music sector drives social networking and online engagement with 9 out of the 10 most “liked” people being artists.

• Online music services have increased by a factor of ten and the available catalogue has grown a hundred fold.
• Globally, the music sector is 35% digital today
• There are over 30 million paying subscribers to streaming services, and over 4 billion songs downloaded from other licensed services.
• All Europeans have access to 37 million songs.

The growth of ebooks is nothing short of astonishing. Today, an ever-increasing number of books are being digitised by publishers and made available online through a range of commercial platforms. New technologies have also triggered new services such as print-on-demand and exciting new features that contribute to the reading experience. The use of tablets has facilitated the development of interactive children’s books.

• European readers can choose among 9 million book titles, 2.5 million of which are available in digital format. More than half a million new titles are published every year.
• 7 out of 10 world-leading publishing houses are European
• Downloads now account for 16% of British book sales.
• E-books are the third most purchased item online: 23 % in 2012

News was the first creative content available on digital platforms, and newspaper websites are now among the most widely used. Consumers today no longer consume news once a day from their favourite newspaper. They choose how and when to access media, often using different apps and devices at different times of the day to access everything from breaking stories to archive materials.

• More than half of tablet owners say they consume news on their tablets daily, and 30% say they spend more time with news than they did before purchasing the tablet.
• In 2011, accessing news was the third most popular activity on a tablet.
• The German news site, welt.de had about 7.66 million monthly visitors in 2011, compared to 3.27 million in 2009.

Europe’s magazines have been able to build on the trusted relationships with their readers by staying in tune with their needs. Many created multiplatform and interactive versions. The December 2011 edition of the Top Gear motoring magazine presented what it called “augmented reality”: throughout the issue, readers equipped with an app from Aurasma were able to point their iPhone, iPad or Android device at each page of the magazine to bring it to life with streaming video.

• 360 million Europeans read magazines on a regular and consistent basis

While TV output is still mainly consumed in people’s living rooms, other devices such as laptops, tablets and mobile phones, account for a growing share. Commercial broadcasters have adapted smartly and responded to technological change by developing new online services. For example Mediaset’s TGCOM24 website features amongst the 25 most downloaded applications on Apple devices and M6’s catch-up TV – M6 Replay – has registered more than 1.3 billion online video views since it was launched in 2008. Yet despite the constantly changing media environment, people continue to watch television.

• On average, European watch 235 minutes of TV every day
• The annual investment of Europe’s largest commercial broadcasting groups into content comes to over € 15 billion.
• At the end of 2011, there were almost 612 high-definition channels available in Europe, up from 414 in 2010.

Creativity and out-of-the-box thinking is part of the film industry’s DNA, and film-makers are constantly pursuing new business models, content and delivery modes and platforms. New technology has made the exchange of cultural and entertainment content faster, easier, and increasingly, a two-way street. As consumers demand premium content sooner and across multiple devices, the film industry is responding by increasing the choice of legitimate avenues to watch films and TV shows online. Tailor-made, audience-focused distribution continues to be absolutely key and the film industry is responding to this need.

• There are now more than 3,600 on-demand audiovisual services available in Europe.
• Consumer spending on online video increased by 100% in 2012 compared to 2011.
• On average, more than 30,000 audiovisual programmes are made available to the French public at any given time.