Locked down and tuning in

Covid-19 sparks shift in TV viewing - 30, August 2021

Have coronavirus lockdown restrictions brought about a change in your TV viewing habits? For many, the response is a resounding yes, according to research findings from Ofcom, the UK's communication regulator.

Spurred on by lockdown living, UK adults spent in the region of 33 percent of their waking hours watching TV and online video content in 2020. This equates to five hours and 40 minutes of each day, 47 minutes above average daily viewing statistics the previous year.

Although traditional broadcast TV remains the go-to medium for middle-aged and older cohorts, who typically watch close to three hours daily, around 80 percent of households now have an internet connection on their sets.

Video on demand services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video witnessed massive expansion, with viewers streaming on average an estimated 65 minutes a day, practically twice the time spent in 2019.

For the first time, more householders subscribed to Netflix than a paid TV account such as cable or satellite with Netflix by far the most popular way of viewing streamed videos. Some 29 of the 30 most watched titles on any subscription service were watched using this provider.

As for user-generated video services, YouTube retained the top spot, with your average user hooked to the site for an estimated 41 minutes daily. Interestingly, Chinese-owned video app TikTok also gained market share, being viewed daily by roughly a third of adult internet users by March 2021.

According to Yih-Choung Teh, Ofcom's group director of research: "TV and online video have proved an important antidote to lockdown life, with people spending a third of their waking hours last year glued to screens for news and entertainment. He continued, "The pandemic undoubtedly turbo-charged viewing to streaming services, with three in five UK homes now signed up."