Younger viewers desert UK broadcasters

All UK broadcasters are facing a decline in the number of younger viewers but new figures indicate that the BBC and Channel 4 are suffering significantly more than the average.

Between 2010 and 2013 there was an overall drop of 7% in the number of 25 to 34 year olds watching television in the traditional manner. Encouragingly for advertisers, commercial broadcaster ITV fared better than most with only a 3% drop. The BBC, however, recorded a 12% drop, according to official BARB figures seen by The Independent.

In the younger 16 to 24 demographic the downward trend was even more pronounced, with a 15% fall across the board. Once again, ITV was least hard hit, down 13%, compared to 17% at the BBC, 18% at Sky and 19% at Channel 4.

The Independent suggested that the nation's broadcasters were "facing a battle to retain young viewers "in the face of the relentless growth of Google's YouTube platform".

MediaTel noted, however, that these figures did not include mobile and tablet viewing and could therefore be an indication that younger audiences were moving online rather than abandoning television altogether.
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