While overall viewing of television and video in the United Kingdom increased slightly in 2023, time spent watching broadcaster programming was down by 6%. The decline in the reach of broadcast television accelerated. Less than half of those aged 16-24 watched broadcast television in an average week. Daily viewing of broadcaster video-on-demand services rose by 29% to 20 minutes per person, while viewing on online video sharing platforms like YouTube and TikTok rose by 12% to 49 minutes per day.

People spent an average of just over four and a half hours watching television and video programming at home in 2023, the annual Ofcom Media Nations report reveals. That was up by just six minutes or 2% on the previous year, based on Barb estimates of viewing in the home for all individuals aged over four years.

The television set remains the most-used screen for viewing video, accounting from 84% of measured in-home video viewing.

While there is more viewing choice than ever, the availability to view television and video at home is ultimately limited, and as a result people are generally watching less broadcast television.

There was a 9% decline in viewing of television at the time of transmission. Broadcast programming, including live, recorded playback, and video-on-demand, although making up the majority of in-home video viewing, fell to 57% from 61% in 2022.

Of an average of 2 hours 14 minutes of broadcaster programming viewed a day, 25 minutes was from recorded playback and 20 minutes was from online video-on-demand services.

The weekly reach of broadcast television fell to 75% from 79% the previous year, marking a second consecutive year of record decline. In other words, a quarter of the population watched less than 15 consecutive minutes of television in a week.

Less than half of those aged 16-24 watched broadcast television for more than 15 consecutive minutes in an average week. Their viewing of broadcast television programming has fallen by 78% over 10 years. They watched an average of just 37 minutes a day watching broadcaster programming, and only 20 minutes a day of that at the time of transmission. They spent almost half of their video viewing watching online video sharing services like YouTube and TikTok.

Those aged 65-74 watched an average of four hours a day of television at the time of transmission, with broadcaster programming making up 83% of their viewing and weekly reach above 95%.

Average viewing of broadcaster online video on demand services, such as BBC iPlayer or ITVX grew by 29% in 2023 to 20 minutes per person per day. This increased the proportion of total broadcaster viewing coming from such online services to 13%, up from 10% the previous year. However, the proportion was higher for the BBC iPlayer at 18%, at an average of 9 minutes a day. ITVX accounted for 11% of ITV viewing, but it only amounted to an average of less than 4 minutes a day. Channel 4 had an average of just 2.5 minutes a day of online viewing, which was 16% of its total. For Channel 5 it was less than half a minute per head of population or 5% of its total.

The majority of broadcaster online video viewing is of entertainment or drama programming, at an average of about an hour and 7 minutes a week per person.

Two decades after public service broadcasters in the United Kingdom first launched their online video services, traditional channels still account for 87% of their viewing. Furthermore, any increase in their online viewing has not compensated for the decline in viewing of their traditional channels.

The Media Nations 2024 report is published by the United Kingdom commuinications regulator Ofcom and is available from its web site.

www.ofcom.org.uk