For the first time, less than half of 16-24-year-olds are now watching broadcast TV in an average week, according to Ofcom’s annual study into UK media habits.
According to research undertaken on behalf of the media regulator, just 48% of younger audiences tuned in during the average week last year, a fall from 76% in 2018.
Children aged 4-15 are also turning away from broadcast TV with only 55% watching in 2023, compared to 81% in 2018.
Overall, the weekly reach of traditional TV fell by a record amount in the last year.
The decline among middle-aged viewers (45-54s) also accelerated, falling from 89% to 84% in a single year.
In contrast, there has been relatively little change among loyal older audiences aged 65+, with around 95% continuing to tune in to broadcast TV each week.
For younger audiences the TV has been replaced by the video-sharing platforms such as TikTok and YouTube which are being watched for three times as long (1 hour 33 minutes).
But the decline of broadcast, or linear TV, doesn’t tell the wholes story. People actually watched more TV and video content at home in 2023, averaging 4 hours and 31 minutes a day (an increase of 6 minutes/2% since 2022).
This comes from an increase in daily viewing to video-sharing platforms (up 12% to 49 minutes) and to broadcasters’ video-on-demand services, such as iPlayer and ITVX (up 29% to 20 minutes).
Thirty-four per cent of time spent watching YouTube at home is now on a TV set – up from 29% in 2022. This increases to 45% among children aged 4-15 – up from 36% in 2022.
