A new study from Ofcom has revealed how children are topping up traditional live TV viewing by watching online video clips and catch-up TV.
The research shows that older children, aged 11-15, are watching half the amount of live TV per day as adults – 1 hour 32 minutes versus 2 hours 58 minutes.
In contrast, older children are spending six times longer than adults watching short online video clips on sites such as YouTube and Vimeo (33 minutes versus 5 minutes).
The research, which asked children aged 6-15 to complete a diary of their media and communications habits, also shows that 45% of 11-15 year olds watch online video clips on websites every week compared with 20% of adults.
Children aged 11-15 watch a similar amount of free on-demand TV as adults each day (13 minutes versus 12 minutes). However, a greater proportion of adults are likely to watch such services each week (38% compared with 26% of 11-15 year olds).
The study also found that nearly all UK adults reported watching live TV every week over the course of a week (94%), compared with just over three-quarters (78%) of children aged 11-15 and 90% of 6-11 year olds.
The research also took account of radio consumption habits, revealing that children prefer to take control over what they listen to.
Older children were found to be engaging with online and digital music more than adults do. Each week, 11-15s are more likely to stream music (19% versus 13% of adults), listen to their own digital music (44% versus 33%), and twice as likely to watch music videos (22% versus 11%).
More than three quarters (77%) of adults tune into the radio each week, compared with four in 10 (42%) children. Adults listened to five times more radio each day than children in the study (1 hour 19 minutes versus 15 minutes for children aged 11-15).
The report also examined how children use social media and notes that, in sharp contrast to adults, young people are communicating with friends via instant messenger and social media platforms rather than using the phone.
Adults are more than three times more likely than 11-15 year olds to talk on the phone each week (83% versus 25%) and spend six times longer talking on the phone (29 minutes a day versus 5 minutes).
Twice the proportion of 11-15 year olds communicate via a social media site than make a phone call (47% versus 25%) and five times more use instant messaging than email each week (40% versus 8%).
Over half (56%) of the time spent communicating by older children is taken up by text messages, instant messages and photo messages. This is twice the proportion of time spent by adults on messaging (28%). Older children also spend twice as long communicating via social networking sites than adults each day (52 minutes versus 25 minutes).
View the full report here.
