Watching regularly broadcast television is almost a thing of the past, as streaming giants are dominating the attention spans of younger viewers.
The streaming wars between major at-home viewing providers have been heating up for a while, but it is starting to look like there is a big generational gap between the audiences Netflix, Amazon, and Disney are targeting.
Nine out of ten people ages 18 to 24 have decided to practically forgo the tried-and-tested tradition of channel surfing in favor of their preferred streaming service, and are spending two-thirds less time in front of a traditional television relative to a decade ago, according to a new survey by Ofcom, a broadcasting and telecommunications regulator in the U.K.
The survey—conducted in the U.K.—found that people under 24 are spending less than an hour a day on average watching traditional TV, in stark contrast to the habits of older demographics.
Viewers over 65 can’t get enough and spend nearly six hours a day on average watching television, a slight uptick from 10 years ago.
Large and recognizable streaming services based in the U.S. are largely responsible for the decline in popularity of broadcast television, with one in five homes having acquired subscriptions to all three of Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video. Netflix remains the most popular option for younger viewers.
The growing popularity of streaming services among younger audiences has made it harder for broadcast television to compete.
The survey, however, did find that traditional TV still holds an edge across demographics when it comes to big national or sporting events, such as this summer’s Women’s Euro 2022 Final, which attracted a British audience of 17.4 million for BBC’s live coverage of the game.
Will the rising cost of living begin to bite?
But despite their firm popularity among younger viewers, the rapid rise of the streaming industry may be starting to plateau, as rising living costs around the world make expensive subscriptions less appealing.
U.K. households pay around £300 ($363) a year to maintain the three major streaming subscriptions, according to Ofcom.
In the U.S., base subscriptions for the same services cost $324 a year, but with inflation running at a 40-year high in both the U.K. and the U.S., led by a rise in food and fuel costs, streaming providers are already starting to see subscription numbers drop.
In the U.S., where as many as 85% of households subscribe to an at-home video service, streaming giant Netflix has had the worst year, losing subscribers for the first time in its history in both the first and second quarters of 2022.
Similarly in the U.K., the number of households paying for at least one streaming service has fallen by more than 350,000 to 19.2 million this year, according to Ofcom’s survey.
The number of active subscriptions to Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in the U.K. fell by nearly 800,000 between April and June of this year, according to a recent survey by the Broadcasters Audience Research Board.
