YouTube now second only to BBC as most popular media desination

Paul GlynnCulture reporterGetty ImagesPeople within the UK spent a median of 4 hours and half-hour a day watching TV and video content material at residence in 2024YouTube has turn into the UK’s second most-watched media service, behind solely the BBC, in accordance with Ofcom’s annual report.One in 5 younger viewers go to the video sharing platform first once they activate their sensible TVs, the nation’s media watchdog discovered, whereas older individuals additionally watch extra of its content material.Technology Alpha – aged 4 to fifteen – flip to YouTube first whereas individuals aged over 55 are watching practically twice as a lot YouTube as they did two years in the past.Ofcom’s interim group director for technique and analysis, Ed Leighton, stated scheduled TV is “more and more alien” to youthful viewers, with YouTube now “the primary port of name for a lot of” once they decide up the distant.”However we’re additionally seeing indicators that older adults are turning to the platform as a part of their day by day media weight-reduction plan too,” he famous.’Transferring to satisfy audiences’Not solely is YouTube’s viewers altering, however so too is the content material it showcases. Half of the platform’s top-trending movies now extra intently resemble conventional TV, together with long-form interviews and recreation reveals; positioning it as a direct competitor to ad-supported TV companies, whereas providing broadcasters a approach to attain youthful and wider audiences.Public service broadcasters, Mr Leighton added, are “recognising this shift” and “transferring to satisfy audiences within the on-line areas the place they more and more spend their time”.He continued: “However we have to see much more ambition on this respect to make sure that public service media that audiences worth survives lengthy into the long run.”BBC/PAThe Gavin and Stacy finale was 2024’s most watched present on linear TVThe stories reveals that general although, individuals spent 4% much less time watching broadcast TV in 2024 than the earlier 12 months, with common day by day viewing dropping to 2 hours 24 minutes on TV units.This pattern was significantly pushed by younger adults (16-24), who watched simply 17 minutes of reside TV day by day. Just below half of this age group (45%) tuned into broadcast TV weekly, down from 48% in 2023.Regardless of the rise of streaming, broadcast tv nonetheless accounts for 56% of in-home viewing.That is very true round Christmas, as festive favourites topped the listing of final 12 months’s most-watched moments:Gavin and Stacy: The Finale was essentially the most watched programme final 12 months on linear telly (18.6 million, together with catch-up)That was adopted in second place by Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (16.9m).The fourth episode of Mr Bates vs The Submit Workplace got here in third (14.7m)The lads’s Euro 2024 soccer remaining between England and Spain was the most-watched reside sporting occasion of final 12 months, throughout the BBC, ITV and STV (19.8m)Within the first quarter of this 12 months, Netflix’s Adolescence was the most-watched TV occasion (12.2m), making it the primary time a streaming title has topped the weekly TV ratingsThe nation’s listening habits are reportedly evolving as nicely, as greater than 9 in 10 UK adults (93%) take heed to some type of audio content material every week, rising to 98% of 16-34-year-olds.YouTube (47%) and Spotify (36%) are the preferred on-line audio companies, whereas BBC Sounds is the preferred from a radio broadcaster (24%).The report underlined how podcasts are additionally more and more accessible in video in addition to audio kind.It is available in the identical month that Ofcom stated YouTube ought to give movies made by channels such because the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 extra promotion to assist deal with a “critical menace” to the UK’s public service broadcasting.