Britons are switching off traditional live television broadcasts in record numbers, according to the media regulator Ofcom.
Until now older audiences had proved loyal to traditional channels, but even people aged 65-plus are now cutting back on television and switching over to streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+.
As a result, the proportion of people watching any traditional TV broadcast in a given week has declined from 83% in 2021 to 79% in 2022, the sharpest fall on record, according to Ofcom’s annual Media Nations report. This figure is even lower among 16- to 24-year-olds, with just 54% of young people watching any live television.
The average Briton now consumes four hours and 28 minutes of video every day, with just two hours spent watching traditional live television broadcasts. Instead, video sharing platforms such as YouTube and TikTok are increasingly eating into audience time.
Yet it is not all bad news for Britain’s traditional broadcasters. While linear television viewing is in steady decline, public service broadcasters such as the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, and Welsh-language channel S4C still produce a substantial proportion of the content consumed by Britons. And even if audiences increasingly use catch-up services such as iPlayer and ITVX to watch TV dramas, they will tune in collectively for live broadcasts of international football matches, news events such as Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, and major entertainment shows such as I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!.
Another notable shift in the broadcast TV landscape, according to Ofcom, is a steep decline in the number of programmes attracting “mass audiences”. The number of shows with more than 4 million TV viewers has more than halved in recent years, as fewer people tune in to watch evening TV news bulletins and the three most popular soaps: Coronation Street; EastEnders; and Emmerdale.
Although streaming is increasingly popular, its audience is spread thinly across a large number of shows, limiting its cultural power. The Ofcom research found just 48 programmes on streaming platforms attracted more than 4 million British TV viewers in 2022, with Netflix accounting for the vast majority of these.
There are also signs of a splintered entertainment market, with the number of households that have access to a paid streaming service stuck at about 66% amid the cost of living crisis. This means a third of households – often poorer, older, or single-parent households – are stuck with traditional broadcast television and free catch-up services while the rest of the country watches big-budget content on the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Yih-Choung Teh, group director of strategy and research at Ofcom, said: “Today’s viewers and listeners have an ‘all-you-can-eat’ buffet of broadcasting and online content to choose from, and there’s more competition for our attention than ever.
“Our traditional broadcasters are seeing steep declines in viewing to their scheduled, live programmes – including among typically loyal older audiences – and soaps and news programmes don’t have the mass audience pulling power they once had.
“But despite this, public service broadcasters are still unrivalled in bringing the nation together at important cultural and sporting moments, while their on-demand players are seeing positive growth as they digitalise their services to meet audience needs.”
