There’s been a significant increase in on demand viewing, but the gap between the younger and older audiences continues to widen.
According to the latest Communications Market Report, released by the regulator Ofcom, 16-24 year olds see playing video games as just as important as watching TV.
Older adults actually watched more live TV in 2014, but it will come as no surprise the activity has fallen among the young. When multi-tasking activity is excluded the actual decrease in viewing time – 12 minutes for 16 to 24s and 11 mins for 25 to 34s – seems relatively low.
However, the total decrease 42 and 37 minutes respectively, have been displaced by on demand viewing (43 and 20 minutes).
Time spent watching TV has increased among the over 55s.
Tom Williams, chief executive, Ostmodern said the incumbents should reflect on how they first made their names: “Broadcasters have a chance to take ownership of the market while there is still a window to push their own natural advantages. Broadcasters are well aware that if they play the same game as Netflix they won’t succeed – they can’t always compete with their expansive content acquisition budgets or reach, especially when it comes to international growth. Instead, these traditional players should double down on the strengths which made them so popular in the first place.”
The popularity of streaming services including Netflix and Amazon Instant Video has grown (from 18% to 26% weekly reach) as has the proportion of people watching video clips online (20% to 25%).
The BBC iPlayer remains the most popular on demand service with 32% of adults using the service in the last 12 months.
Sky’s video on demand service remains the most popular such service from a pay-TV operator and is second in the overall table ahead of Netflix, All4 and ITV Hub.
