A recently published consumer study report by the NPD group notes that even though newspapers and other conventional forms of subscription have registered lower subscription rates, many forms of entertainment content subscriptions have however, registered the same number of U.S. consumers this year.

The study, part of the latest update made to the “Entertainment Trends in America” further reveals that mobile data plans and other forms of new age subscription services have in fact extended their consumer bases, contrary to expectations.

In all, monthly per capita entertainment content subscription touched $115. This represents a 7 percent growth over the previous year.

According to Russ Crupnick, entertainment industry analyst for the NPD Group (News - Alert), “Despite concerns that the recession would cause consumers to reduce spending on entertainment subscription services, most forms of subscription entertainment are doing just fine. Consumers are clearly looking to the value offered by entertainment subscriptions and like what they get for their money; plus, new technologies and products have helped bolster data plans and other newer kinds of subscription-based services.”

As of August 2009, television service which includes satellite TV, basic/premium cable and fiber optic television service enjoyed 81 percent penetration in U.S. households. A similar percentage of households -76 percent - also paid for Internet subscriptions while 17 percent of households paid for subscriptions to online music or satellite radio services. In addition, 14 percent also subscribed to online gaming subscription services.

More conventional forms of entertainment subscriptions did not do as well however. Newspaper subscriptions came down by 2 percent and stood at 29 percent as of August 2009. And, while 43 percent of consumers subscribed to magazines during 2008, the number fell to 41 percent during the current year.

NPD notes that the growth in the smartphone device segment and an increase in its uptake have resulted in an increase in mobile data plan subscriptions. In 2008 only 6 percent of U.S. consumers had mobile data plan subscriptions; that number rose by 3 percent and stood at 9 percent during the current year.