Ofcom, the UK regulator for communications services, has recently published a new report on trends in media consumption.
Covering television, radio, online video and online audio, Ofcom surveyed more than 4000 adults in the UK to find out what they had been watching and listening to in 2022.
2023 Trends in Broadcast Media Consumption
The report's findings are interesting. Here's my key takeaways:
Overall TV and video viewing declined in 2022, there has been growth in on-demand viewing.
2022 saw a significant drop in broadcast TV viewing numbers
Despite rebounding in 2021, commercial broadcasters' revenues fell in 2022
Commercial radio is growing thanks to continued growth in local advertising and sponsorships.
Overall reach of live radio remains high, as listening continues to shift to online.More than a third of online listeners listen to BBC Sounds.
But younger adults tend to use music streaming and podcasts over tuning into the radio. Half of all listening done by young people is via streamed music services (I can confirm the other half for my young people is definitely not listening to me!)
Mass TV Scheduling Dominated by Societal Events
There is an insightful narrative about mass interest in TV scheduling. While the research found that there were fewer programmes attracting huge numbers of viewers compared to previous years, the programmes that did were seminal social moments: Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee celebrations, and the coverage of her State Funeral, took the #3 and #2 spots in most watched programmes respectively. These important moments in UK history were only topped by the 16.1m people who tuned in for the Fifa World Cup match between England and France.
Entertainment programmes - I'm a Celebrity and Strictly Come Dancing (my personal favourite) in particular - still feature in the top 10, but audiences are decreasing from previous seasons.
Advertising Trends
There's some nuggets in the report for those placing advertising too: Spotify continues to beat Amazon and YouTube in the streaming stakes, and online ad budgets are booming having more than doubled since 2017. It's clear though that print newspaper advertising budgets have never recovered to pre-pandemic level.
Final Thoughts and Where to Find the Report
The Ofcom Media Trends 2023 report is great reading - full of helpful information and easy to read. I recommend it if you're planning any kind of advertising spend in the coming months.
You can also dig deeper into Scottish, Welsh/Cymru and Northern Irish data, if you want a more regional picture.
If you'd like to advertise your business, but you don't know where to start, I can help. I've got 20 years of paid media experience in a wide range of sectors and can help you get the most from your budget, whatever its size. Just get in touch for an initial chat.
Thanks to This is Engineering on Unsplash for the image.