Live TV viewing by younger viewers has fallen more than a quarter, says Ofcom
Written by Daniel Kirby on 12th July 2016
In an annual research report published by Ofcom yesterday, it was announced that viewing of paid-for video-on-demand services such as Amazon and Netflix has more than tripled in just two years.
On the other hand, overall daily viewing of live TV has dropped by nearly half an hour per person in the past five years, with the most siginificant drop occurring among those ages between 16 and 24 years old, for whom live TV viewing figures fell by more than a quarter.
Ofcom have explained that this has resulted in a 'widening gap' between the viewing practices of younger and older viewers, with those over 65 seeing almost no change in their viewing habits. Currently traditional live TV accounts for only 36% of total viewing activity for 16-24 year olds, whilst for over-65s this figure is 83%.
Elsewhere in the report it was announced that BBC, ITV, and Channels 4 and 5 have seen their share of audiences fall, dropping to 70.7% of TV viewing last year - down from 77.2% 10 years ago.