Blitz Bureau
Just 48% of young adults tuned in to traditional television during an average week last year, compared with 76% just five years before (2018), according to Ofcom’s annual Media Nations report. Those who did consume traditional TV tuned in for an average of 33 minutes each day, down 16% year-on-year.
Video sharing programmes
It will come as no surprise to many that the age group spent three times as long each day (1hr 33min) watching video-sharing platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, according to a BBC report. Children between the ages of four and 15 are also switching off, with only 55% watching traditional TV each week last year, compared to 81% in 2018. But there has also been a decline in middle-aged viewers (45 to 54), dropping from 89% to 84% since 2023, and a 5% drop in viewers aged between 65 and 75.
The over 75s slightly increased their traditional TV viewing, up 1% from last year, Ofcom said. The overall viewing figures declined by 6% last year, although that was a slower fall than in 2022 (12%).
Radio listeners more
However, there was brighter news for radio. The first quarter of 2024 saw the highest number of weekly radio listeners across all devices in the last 20 years (just under 50 million). Listening time is up on last year to an average of 20.5 hours per week. Much of this is down to commercial radio’s continued success – just over seven in 10 people aged 15 and over tune into commercial stations at least once a week (70.4%) compared to 55.6% for BBC stations.
But BBC Radio 2 was still the most popular UK station, and commercial radio had a slightly lower average listening time each week (14.0 hours compared to 14.2 hours for BBC stations).
