Teenagers and children are watching a third less broadcast TV on traditional sets than they were in 2010, as the shift to digital viewing and the rise of services such as Netflix and Amazon gathers pace.
There is a “widening gap” between the viewing habits of younger and older viewers watching on traditional TV sets, said Ofcom. This was demonstrated by the horror of more mature audiences at the recent news that Blue Peter, once the staple of teatime viewing, had managed a dreaded “zero” audience rating with a repeat of a recent broadcast.
Viewing of broadcast TV by children (four to 15 years old) and 16- to 24-year-olds fell 33% between 2010 and last year, and about 9% compared with 2015, according to the broadcasting regulator.
According to Ofcom, children on average watched 101 minutes of “traditional” TV a day last year, while 16- to 24-year-olds watched 114 minutes – far less than the average viewer, who watches 212 minutes a day. Even that figure is down 12% since 2010.
The Ofcom report charts the growing generational divide in traditional TV viewing, with the amount watched rising significantly with the age of the audience.
Those most loyal to the traditional TV set are the over-65s, who have marginally increased viewing between 2010 and 2016 by one minute per day – the only group to do so. At 344 minutes viewing per day on average, pensioners clock up more than triple the amount of traditional TV viewing of children and younger viewers.
Ofcom’s report found that the viewing of on-demand TV on different devices – whether on the BBC iPlayer or ITV Player, or Netflix and Amazon – is becoming increasingly popular.
The report offered no firm figures, estimating that viewers at a “pre-family stage” of life could be watching about 2.5 hours a day of on-demand TV, but said such viewing was going some way to bridge the fall in traditional TV watching.
YouTube is also popular with younger audiences, with some stars enjoying followings of millions of subscribers.
Earlier this week, even as Blue Peter was suffering the ignominy of a zero rating, the BBC acknowledged the rapid change in viewing, announcing a major boost in investment in children’s content and an increased focus on online. By 2019-20, the BBC children’s budget will reach £124.4m, with about a quarter of that spent on online content. The BBC intends to continue to back its existing children’s channels, CBBC and CBeebies.
Last year, the corporation scrapped the youth-focused BBC3 TV channel in favour of an online-only offering, which saved £30m annually, citing the change in the viewing habits of its core audience. It has also pledged to step up investment in the iPlayer to keep up with audience demand and digital rivals such as Netflix and Amazon.
Ofcom’s annual report into the state of British broadcasting also found dissatisfaction with what is on the box. Its study on viewer attitudes found that three in 10 (29%) of those surveyed felt programme quality worsened last year. “The main reasons for the drop in quality were: more repeats, a lack of variety and an overall lack of quality,” said Ofcom. “It is older adults (aged 55 and over) who are more likely to feel that TV programme standards had worsened in the past 12 months.”
A teenager writes: ‘Binge watching is almost a necessity’
To say that television has changed in the past 10 years would be a massive understatement. The introduction of streaming has had a huge impact and the idea of on-demand television may be something of a revelation for some, but to me and my generation, it is more of an expectation.
For 16-year-olds like me, television has been elbowed aside by smartphones, Xboxes and streaming services. I’m an avid user of social media, YouTube and Netflix in a desperate attempt to see every post and watch every series my friends always gush about. Perhaps it is this sort of “busy lifestyle” young people choose that results in TV being discarded, as the phone replaces the remote.
It was mainly as I got older and hit my teenage years that platforms like Netflix began to influence my life, as I started another series that would take me weeks to finish. The average teenager is so accustomed to binge-watching series that it has evolved into a necessity, and perhaps the key feature TV is missing.
Now, TV is hardly ever considered as the world of online gaming, streaming and posting seems to occupy the lives of my generation. Those who choose to continue watching TV miss out on the conversation about The Walking Dead at lunch, or the inside joke that only Skins viewers may get.
Television and media moves so quickly, and with cable TV you simply fall behind. In the life of your typical teenager, that concept is fatal. If traditional TV wishes to find viewers among my generation they have to be able to keep up – even if it does mean taking a leaf out of Netflix’s book. Sebastian de Pury
Comments (…)
Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion