For the first time less than half (48%) of 16-24 year olds tuned in to broadcast TV in an average week in 2023, according to Ofcom’s latest ‘Media Nations 2024’ report.
Overall, TV viewing went from 79% in 2022 to 75% in 2023, marking a second consecutive year of record decline.
Despite this, it declined at a slower rate than in any other year, down 6% year-on-year compared with 12% year-on-year the year before.
In addition, overall viewing of TV and video increased throughout the year, driven by online platforms including video-sharing platforms like YouTube and broadcasters own services such as iPlayer and ITVX.
In total reach of broadcast video-on-demand was highest for iPlayer, with 71% of views coming from there. ITVX came in second place, with 50% coming from there, followed by Channel 4 streaming which comprised 43% of reach.
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Advertising expenditure in traditional media decreased in 2023 from £10.5m in 2022 to £9.8m in 2023. Broadcasters including Channel 4 and ITV cut jobs in order to manage the advertising slump in the sector.
TV spend in particular decreased from £4.5m to £3.9m, while by contrast BVOD increased from £4.5 million to £3.9 million.
In particular, social display advertising across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram represented £5.4bn, increasing by 19.7% from £4.5bn in 2022.
Total online advertising expenditure, comprising search, display and other online forms of advertising, increased from £26,120m to £28,759m.
Could the gloom be clearing?
However, Ofcom also noted that the outlook for 2024 is better — with the Advertising Association and WARC predicting a 3.9% increase in TV spend (primarily driven by around a 14% increase in BVOD spend).
It also highlighted that Netflix’s phasing out of its cheapest ad-free plan could help boost advertiser potential, along with the fact the streamer has integrated itself with Barb in 2022.
Ofcom also drew a link between reduced investment in and output of sports and entertainment programming, with spend on the genre falling 17.1% to £509m with 891 hours in 2023.
This came off the back of a 2022 that included the Fifa World Cup, the UEFA Women’s Euros and the Rugby World Cup. Ofcom links more promising predictions from the Advertising Association and Warc this year to the Men’s Euros and the Olympics.
Equally, other forms of entertainment programming had been impacted by increased production costs and high inflation. Spend in the genre declined by 5.4% to £416m, while hours were at their lowest level, falling by 12.6%.
Despite this, sport helped drive an increase in overall multichannel programming spend from £4.54m to £4.78m in 2023, which the Advertising Association and Warc predicted will contribute to a 7.7% rise across UK adspend in 2024.
