According to a recent Ofcom assessment, the number of viewers turning in to watch broadcast television each week has dropped to its lowest level since records started.
According to the study, as competition for the nation’s attention grows between public service broadcasters and streamers, the number of people viewing traditional TV each week has decreased from 83% in 2021 to 79% in 2022.
Viewers’ daily television viewing time has also decreased by more than 20 minutes, with the average time spent watching broadcast TV going from two hours 59 minutes in 2021 to two hours 38 minutes the following year.
Strictly Come Dancing, with 9.7 million people coming in to witness Hamza Yassin win in 2021, down from 11 million the previous year, and Love Island are two shows that have seen their numbers drop recently.
More than half as many viewers (1.5 million) watched this year’s finale as opposed to 3.4 million who saw Ekin-Su Cülcülolu and Davide Sanclimenti named winner in 2022.
However, public sector broadcasters such as the BBC and Channel 4 continue to lead the UK’s most-watched list with valuable national TV moments, according to the Media Nations 2023 study.
They include England’s Fifa World Cup quarter-final, the Queen’s State Funeral, which was seen by more than 29 million people in the UK, and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, which took the top three slots on the 2022 UK’s most-watched shows.
Glastonbury, with Sir Elton John’s headlining act being seen by a record 7.6 million people on BBC One, is another concert with massive viewership ratings.
Happy Valley’s epic climax drew a similar number of viewers, with 7.5 million tuning in on a Sunday night at the start of the year on BBC One.
Moreover, despite the continued fall of traditional broadcast TV viewing, BBC One and ITV1 remain the top two initial destinations for people when they switch on their television, with Netflix coming in third.
According to Ofcom’s findings, another noticeable trend in the broadcast TV environment is a dramatic fall in the number of programming attracting’mass audiences.’
Since 2022, the number of shows with over four million TV viewers has more than halved, reflecting fewer people tuning in to watch early and late evening TV news bulletins, as well as a steady decline in viewing figures for the three most popular soaps, Coronation Street, EastEnders, and Emmerdale, according to Ofcom.
According to the analysis, just 48 shows averaged more than four million TV viewers on streaming platforms in 2022, with ‘Netflix accounting for the great majority,’ according to the report.
Last year, the Jenna Ortega-starring drama Wednesday topped 1 billion cumulative hours seen on Netflix in its third week, a number also accomplished by Squid Game and the fourth season of Stranger Things.
Yih-Choung Teh, group director of strategy and research at Ofcom, said: ‘Today’s viewers and listeners have an “all-you-can-eat” buffet of broadcasting and online content to choose from, and there’s more competition for our attention than ever.
‘Our traditional broadcasters are seeing steep declines in viewing to their scheduled, live programmes – including among typically loyal older audiences – and soaps and news programmes don’t have the mass audience pulling power they once had.
‘But despite this, public service broadcasters are still unrivalled in bringing the nation together at important cultural and sporting moments, while their on-demand players are seeing positive growth as they digitalise their services to meet audience needs.’
