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There is a significant gap opening up between age groups when it comes to television consumption, according to UK communications regulator Ofcom. In the latest Public Service Broadcasting Annual Report 2016, published this week, Ofcom found that under 25s were spending about a third of their daily viewing time watching video-on-demand (VoD). This may not all be online though, as VoD services from broadcasters such as the BBC, Channel 4, ITV and so on are also available through pay-TV providers' own on-demand services in the UK.
But the estimate includes paid OTT services such as Netflix, Amazon Video etc., which are more likely to be viewed via the public Internet rather than a pay-TV provider's network. It is these services that are growing rapidly, up 14% in two years.
Correspondingly, live TV viewing is down by the same percentage, over the same time, in the same age group.
The decline in live TV holds true for all age groups, but is much less pronounced for audiences over 45 (and is actually reversed for those over 65). Across age groups, overall TV viewing has fallen in recent years with the average person watching 3 hours and 36 minutes of TV per day in 2015 -- 26 minutes less than in 2010.
No surprises here: The study confirms general perceptions held across the industry. TV viewership is declining and younger viewers are steadily shifting their video allegiance to OTT providers. It's just more evidence that operators need to find a way to stop them, before the video business goes the way of the voice business.
— Aditya Kishore, Practice Leader, Video Transformation, Telco Transformation
