By Hugo Stelfox.

The UK media landscape is undergoing a major sea change, with its traditional TV viewership declining and the popularity of TV viewers increasing. According to the latest Ofcom data, traditional TV viewing has seen the biggest drop. The percentage of weekly tuning decreased from 83% in 2021 to 79% in 2022—a drop that may seem small, but would be enormous over a period of years.

A large amount of the older audiences, who have tended to watch more network TV in the past, have been spending more time watching streaming services. One notable statistic is that since 2017, BBC One’s viewership has declined by 12%, though it has been able to retain its highest weekly average at 58%. While views on BBC One were declining, streams on BBC iPlayer where up by 11%, and streams on the BBC Sounds App were up by 50% year over year. These are just a few of the statistics that highlight the decrease in viewership from traditional TV. The number of Disney+ accounts who’s users were aged 64 and over increased from 7% to 12% in 2022, along with Netflix and Amazon Prime subscriptions which increased by 43% and 37% respectively.

Despite these efforts, traditional TV still occupies a unique place for important cultural and sporting programs, according to the most watched events in in 2010, as evidenced by England’s defeat to France in the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup was viewed by 16.1 million people and Queen Elizabeth’s funeral was watched by 28 million viewers in the UK alone.

One of the areas where the decline in network TV is most prominent is in younger years. Since 2012, network TV viewership by children and young people has dropped by 73%. Today, most teenagers and young adults spend on average an hour a day on TikTok, with short form content taking over. 

There has been significant growth in the UK streaming landscape, and subscription video-on-demand service is now in two-thirds of households, up 20% on 2015. Amazon Prime Video attracted a new streaming 42.2% subscribers highlighting its rapid expansion in 2023. However, the number of Netflix subscribers, which reached 17.3 million in early 2022, declined slightly in the UK due to economic pressures.

The way UK audiences consume media is changing dramatically, with a clear shift away from traditional TV to digital and on-demand. This trend presents both challenges and opportunities for traditional broadcasters as they adapt to a digital-first approach that continues to play an important role in public service and public administration reporting.