Broadcast TV audience in the UK falls to a record low

Over the past year, traditional television audiences in the UK have declined to a record low. If in 2021 the share of people who watch TV programs at least once a week was 83% of the population, then in 2022 it will be 79%. The amount of time British viewers spend watching TV has also fallen by 12%. Such data are provided in report Media Nations 2023 of the British telecommunications market regulator Ofcom.

For the first time in the history of mainstream TV, there are signs in the UK that older people are watching less and less of conventional TV programmes, the report says. Spectators are reported over 64 years old watched TV 8% less frequently and 6% less time than in 2021. Television programs for the elderly are increasingly replacing streaming services. In particular, the share of people over 64 using Disney+ has grown from 7% in 2022 to 12% in 2023. Time spent watching on-air TV programs by aged viewers 55–64 years old decreased by 10%. And in the age group 45–54 years old the reduction also became a record: from 3 hours 28 minutes a day to 3 hours, that is, by 13%. Less on-air TV is watched by both young people and children. The time that the British aged 4–34 years old spend watching TV, decreased by 21% over the year, and since 2012 – by all 73%.

The report also notes that the average time spent watching TV and video content across devices in 2022 was 4 hours 28 minutes per person per day.

This is 12% less than in 2021, when the British spent more time at home due to pandemic restrictions.

The largest social video platforms in the UK remain YouTube and Facebook (owned by Meta, which is recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation). In the first quarter of 2023, each of them was used by 91% of the Internet audience over the age of 15. social network TikTok young people aged 15-24 use more and spend an average of an hour a day on this platform. As for the television preferences of the British, the programs that are most popular with them are BBC, on average, they are watched 54 minutes a day. TV channel programs ITV watch 35 minutes a day.

Commenting on the study, one of its authors, Yi-Chun Te, noted that “viewing of public broadcasters, including among the usually devoted audience of older people, is falling, and soap operas and news releases no longer have the same attractive power that was they have before.” “But despite this, public broadcasters are still unrivaled in their ability to rally the nation at important cultural and sporting moments,” the expert says.

Among the most watched TV programs in the UK in 2022 was the World Cup quarter-final match between England and France. In the UK, it was watched by 16.1 million people. In addition, 13.2 million people watched the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on TV, and the same number of viewers watched programs about the celebration of the platinum anniversary of the reign of Elizabeth II.

Alena Miklashevskaya