Total media time in Germany is increasing, bucking a Western European trend. Digital growth is fueling much of this, but traditional media’s enduring appeal is helping, too.

The UK, France, Germany, and Italy are lagging on ecommerce growth. Online sales growth is accelerating in France and Germany, which saw tepid growth last year after an unprecedented dip in 2022. In contrast, online sales growth will decelerate in the UK, which saw a stronger bounce back last year, and in Italy.

This balance is common in the countries where we track this measure, apart from Germany, where traditional media still dominates. However, France is still some way behind the UK. Click here to view our forecasts for average time spent with media in Germany and average time spent with media in the UK. Traditional media’s stronghold was only broken in 2022.

Germany and the UK are accelerating away from France in terms of total digital ad spending in the auto sector. Click here to view our full forecasts for automotive industry digital ad spending in France, Germany, and the UK. Behind the Numbers.

Central Europe includes countries that are identified as Western (like Germany) and Eastern (like Poland). What stands out in 2024 is that much of the fastest growth on the continent will come from this region. Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia will each outpace every country further to the west, most of which will grow only between 5% and 6% this year.

Over 40% of consumers in Germany expect that loyalty cards can be used both in-store and online, per a June 2023 survey by GfK for Mastercard. But younger generations are also craving emotional connections.

Germany ranked No. 3 in Western Europe for time spent with gaming, tying with Norway. This year it gained 4 minutes YoY to average 52 minutes daily and was 2 minutes above the regional average. Media Adoption. Germany ranked second to last in Western Europe for TV viewership. The penetration rate for TV was 85.3%, about 3 percentage points below the regional average.

The largest audiences outside the US for the Super Bowl were Mexico (24.1 million viewers) and Canada (18.8 million), with Germany in a distant third at 3.8 million. The NFL still has major ground to cover outside North America. The good news? Germany, the UK, and Brazil are among the markets where the NFL already hosts some of its international games.