More than half of Gen Z abandon watching traditional TV in favour of video-sharing platforms such as TikTok and YouTube each day, says media regulator

More than half of young people watch no traditional broadcast TV at all in a typical week, the media regulator has revealed. Figures from Ofcom signal the slow demise of live television viewing, with only 48 per cent of 16-to-24-year-olds tuning in to broadcast channels Instead, the study said the age group spent more than an hour-and-a-half watching video-sharing platforms such as TikTok and YouTube each day Children aged between four and 15 were 'tuning out at a similar rate' with only 55 per cent of them watching traditional TV each week last year, as compared with 81 per cent in 2018. Around 7.5 million viewers watched the climax to Happy Valley, which saw James Norton's escaped convict Royce set himself ablaze in the kitchen of the embattled officer played by Sarah Lancashire – making it one of the most-watched single shows of 2023 King Charles and Queen Camilla sit together and chat in the Gold State Coach as they prepare to set off for Buckingham Palace following their coronation ceremony in May 2023 Viewership among Gen Z was down dramatically from the 76 per cent of this age group that were watching in this way in 2018. Ofcom's Media Nations report found these Gen Z viewers watched just 20 minutes of live TV each day on average Research also showed middle-aged viewers were also starting to desert traditional TV, with those using broadcast TV dropping from 89 per cent to 84 per cent in a single year. It accounts for more than half of subscription video-on-demand viewing Despite this decline in traditional viewing, Ofcom said overall people watched more TV and video content at home in 2023, averaging four hours and 31 minutes a day But Ofcom revealed that nearly half of adults and teens felt there were too many video-on-demand services and 42 per cent found the amount of available content 'overwhelming'.