U.S. Consumers turning to Social Networking, Texting, and Twitter.

According to the latest update to the “Entertainment Trends in America” tracking study conducted by The NPD Group many consumers expect to be spending the same amount on traditional entertainment categories during the coming holiday season, even as their participation in newer forms of entertainment continues to rise. The most notable increases occurred in social networking and text messaging: More than a third (37 percent) of respondents reported visiting a social networking site over the prior six months, which is an increase of 11 percentage points since llast year; 63 percent reported sending and receiving text messages, which is an increase of 7 percentage points over the prior year; while 9 percent used Twitter during the same time period.

“With a host of new, easy-to-use mobile devices and free mobile and Web entertainment applications now widely available — and as adult consumers get more comfortable with these newer technologies — we can expect to see further increases in these areas in the months to come,” said Russ Crupnick, senior entertainment industry analyst for NPD.

The overall spending outlook for entertainment for the remainder of the year is still reasonably stable, considering that many consumers continue to have anxiety about the state of the economy and the employment picture. In fact in August 2009, 66 percent of consumers reported that they planned to spend the same amount or more on entertainment products and services in the coming 12 months than they did the prior year, which is three percentage points higher than when the same question was asked last year. Even so the picture is not consistent across categories, with consumers more inclined to spend money on digital music and movies in the theater, and somewhat less willing to spend money on CDs and DVDs.

“Although CDs have been facing challenges for years, our research shows that video games, home video and other categories will benefit from releases that consumers really want at prices they perceive as offering a good value,” said Crupnick. “Consumer sentiment can shift quickly with the release of powerful titles like Halo or Transformers.”

“Entertainment Trends in America” also reveals that consumers appear to be maintaining their entertainment commitments — such as Netflix subscriptions and premium cable — despite the difficult economy. “Only a tiny portion of consumers are going off the entertainment grid,” Crupnick said.

The report also pointed out demographic differences. Women have the most conservative spending outlook, especially those in the baby-boomer and Generation-X age ranges. Sixty-three percent of men surveyed by NPD planned to spend more than they did last year on entertainment, versus just 37 percent of women who reported feeling similarly.

For m ore information at http://www.npd.com