Generation YouTube
Children opt for video-sharing platform over BBC and ITV
ONE in four children watch no live broadcast TV, a report from the media regulator has found.
Ofcom’s snapshot of the viewing habits of under- 16s found they preferred YouTube and Netflix to BBC and ITV channels.
Video- on- demand and subscription services even win out over the BBC’s iPlayer among younger viewers.
The research shows that 80 per cent watched some form of video-on-demand content last year, a figure that has almost doubled in five years. Three quarters of five to 15-year-olds watched live broadcast TV.
Ofcom’s report also revealed that children’s use of smart speakers, such as Amazon’s Alexa, has now overtaken their use of radios.
Traditional radio stations are suffering as use of these devices by youngsters doubled in the space of a year from 15 per cent in 2018 to 27 per cent in 2019. Radio had dropped from 26 per cent to 22 per cent in the same period.
Ofcom said it had seen the largest increase in use of all connected devices such as smart speakers in the year. More than a third of 12 to 15year- olds use one. The research
‘You can’t pick the channels’
showed that youngsters overwhelmingly favoured the ‘authentic’ and ‘relatable’ content of YouTube – with its millions of home-made videos – over the professionally-produced programmes of the BBC, ITV and even Netflix.
When asked to choose only one service to watch, 45 per cent of children aged between five and 15 opted for the Google-owned platform. This compared with just 17 per cent for traditional TV channels.
Ofcom’s report said: ‘YouTube remains a firm favourite among children. Five to 15-year- olds are more likely to pick YouTube as their platform of choice over on-demand services such as Netflix, or TV channels including the BBC and ITV. Children are drawn to YouTube for a variety of reasons, and it varies by age.
‘Cartoons and animations continue to be the most popular content among younger children (three to seven-yearolds), while watching funny videos, pranks and music videos are more popular among older children.’
The report said youngsters were turning to YouTube for hobbies and interests as well as learning to make things. It was even more popular for these reasons than search engines or the BBC.
In a sign of an apparent ‘Greta Thunberg effect’, one in ten children aged 12 to 15 signed petitions on social media and even more shared content about issues such as global warming.
The watchdog’s report said viewing of video-on-demand content increased as children got older, with 88 per cent of 12 to 15year-olds doing so last year.
It found that while no single video-on-demand provider ‘surpassed viewing of live TV’ overall, children were more likely to watch subscription services than mainstream channels.
Ofcom also pointed to figures from audience measurement service BARB that showed a dramatic drop in the time being spent in front of a TV set, including for subscription services.
One child quoted in the report, a nine-year-old named Suzy, told Ofcom: ‘I don’t really like the TV because you can’t pick what channels are on it.’
The research found many youngsters preferred the content on YouTube because it was made by ‘normal people’.