Gen Z swerves traditional broadcast TV as less than half tune in weekly

For the first time, less than half of 16-24-year-olds are now watching broadcast TV in an average week, according to Ofcom’s annual study into the nation’s media habits. 

Just 48% of young audiences tuned in in an average week last year, down from 76% in 2018. Children aged 4-15 are tuning out at a similar rate, with only 55% watching broadcast TV each week in 2023, compared to 81% in 2018. Overall, the weekly reach of traditional TV fell by a record amount in the last year.[2] 

The decline in weekly reach among middle-aged viewers (45-54s) also accelerated, falling from 89% to 84% in a single year. In contrast, there has been relatively little change among loyal older audiences aged 65+, with around 95% continuing to tune in to broadcast TV each week. 

Younger audiences aged 16-24 aren’t just watching broadcast TV less frequently, they’re also watching for shorter periods at only 33 minutes each day – down 16% year on year. Of this, a mere 20 minutes is spent watching live TV.  

In comparison, they’re spending three times as long each day (1 hour 33 minutes) watching video-sharing platforms such as TikTok and YouTube.

YouTube taking over the telly?

Overall, people in the UK watched more TV and video content at home in 2023, averaging 4 hours and 31 minutes a day (an increase of 6 minutes/2% since 2022). This was primarily driven by an increase in daily viewing to video-sharing platforms (up 12% to 49 minutes) and to broadcasters’ video-on-demand services, such as iPlayer and ITVX (up 29% to 20 minutes). 

The TV set remains at the heart of household viewing, accounting for 84% of TV and video content watched at home in 2023. TV screens are also rapidly becoming more popular for watching YouTube content. Thirty-four per cent of time spent watching YouTube at home is now on a TV set – up from 29% in 2022. This increases to 45% among children aged 4-15 – up from 36% in 2022. 

Average daily minutes of video viewing at home, by age

Daily viewing to subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) services saw more marginal growth in 2023 (up 6% to 38 minutes). Netflix remains the most popular service – watched for an average of 21 minutes per person per day, and accounting for more than half of all SVoD viewing.  

Six films appear the list of the top 10 most-watched SVoD programmes, with Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (7.5 million viewers) taking the top spot and Elemental (6.5 million viewers) coming in second. The first episode of the Beckham documentary ranks third with 5.8 million viewers.  

With live broadcast TV still dominating the viewing diets of the over-45s, big TV ‘moments’ capturing live national and international events rank highly in 2023’s list of most-watched programmes, including the New Year’s Eve Fireworks (12.1 million viewers), The Coronation of The King and Queen Camilla (12 million viewers) and the Eurovision Song Contest (10.1 million viewers). 

The most-watched event so far in 2024 has been the UEFA Euro 2024 men’s final between England and Spain, with the BBC’s and ITV’s coverage together averaging 15.1 million viewers that day.

Gen Z and Alpha are used to swiping and streaming, not flipping through broadcast TV channels. They crave the flexibility, immediacy and choice that on-demand services offer, spending over three hours a day watching video, but only 20 minutes of live TV. It’s no surprise that the traditional TV is fast becoming a device of choice to watch YouTube.

“But while live TV may not have the universal pull it once did, its role in capturing those big moments that bring the nation together remains vital.

– Ian Macrae, Ofcom’s Director of Market Intelligence