The generational divide in the watching of broadcast TV has reached “a record high” according to Ofcom’s latest research.
The media regulator says it found those aged 16-24 watch an average of 53 minutes of broadcast TV per day, down two-thirds in the last ten years, while those aged 65 and over watch 5 hours and 50 minutes daily, a slight increase on a decade ago.
Its research also reveals that nine in ten 18-24-year-olds bypass TV channels and head straight to streaming, on-demand and social video services when looking for something to watch, while 59% of 55-64-year-olds and 76% of those aged 65+ still turn to TV channels first.
While the UK’s public service broadcasters (BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5) continue to see audience levels fall, Ofcom says their on-demand ad catch-up apps are seeing strong levels of use with 82% of people saying they used a PSB on-demand service in the past six months, almost the same proportion who said they used at least one streaming service (83%).
59% of viewers said they used these platforms to watch channels or programmes live at the time they are broadcast.
As a result, the average time spent watching services such as BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub and All 4 increased to 15 minutes per day, up by three minutes per person per day, bucking the trend of post-pandemic declines in viewing time.
Ofcom credits some of this growth to broadcasters increasing the length of time they make programmes available to stream and offering more boxsets.
Subscription Streaming
Ofcom’s research says 5.2 million homes subscribe to all three of the biggest subscription streaming platforms (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+) but also found the number subscribing to at least one service fell by more than 350,000, to 19.2 million.
However, it says almost three quarters (73%) of those who’d cancelled customers said they thought they would resubscribe at some point in the future.
Ian Macrae, Ofcom’s Director of Market Intelligence, said: “The streaming revolution is stretching the TV generation gap, creating a stark divide in the viewing habits of younger and older people.
“Traditional broadcasters face tough competition from online streaming platforms, which they’re partly meeting through the popularity of their own on-demand player apps, while broadcast television is still the place to go for big events that bring the nation together such as the Euro final or the jubilee celebrations.”