Life in lockdown Britain, a TouchPoints perspective

The IPA’s research director Belinda Beeftink looks at how our media habits have changed during the coronavirus crisis

The IPA undertakes the TouchPoints Survey each year and our fieldwork for 2020 has straddled the weeks before lockdown and the weeks during lockdown (from January –April). This has given us a unique opportunity to look at some top line data to see how lockdown has affected us, both in terms of media consumption and daily life.

TouchPoints shows that so far, the population has shown a high level of compliance with Government advice. We are staying at home, we are not going to work and we are not socialising with other people outside our homes. All of this is impacting our daily lives in many different ways.

Despite being locked in at home, our total time spent communicating (in any way) has only decreased by less than 8%. It is the ways we chose to communicate which have changed. Face to face communicating, using a landline phone and emailing are all down compared to pre-lockdown. However, talking on a mobile, texting, using social media, using voice/video calls and messaging have all increased.

Time spent on social media is up by 20%. Social media shows different patterns to video calling. It is more of a day time activity in the new normal and is higher than the pre lockdown levels between 9 am and 5 pm in the evening.

Unsurprisingly voice and video calling has taken off like a rocket, with twice as many of us doing this in lockdown compared to pre lockdown, and when we do it we are spending more time, up from 8 minutes in pre-lockdown to 28 minutes in lockdown.

Taking a closer look at video calling the rise is across all ages with the older generation showing the greatest increase in uptake, with reach for 55+ increasing by nearly three times more on the pre-lockdown level. The peak for using video calling is between 8.30 and 9pm.

Our daily life habits have shifted. We are getting up later, doing more exercise, taking up hobbies, spending longer preparing and eating meals, spending more time doing housework (20% more time than pre-lockdown levels) and more time with our kids. Days are blurring and the differences between weekdays and weekends are less defined.

Not surprisingly our media habits have changed. We don’t need research to tell us that our TV viewing has increased and that we are even more obsessed with boxed sets than we were before. But has the fact that we are in lockdown changed how we consume different media? [advert position=”left”]

Whilst the patterns of television viewing may be similar to pre lockdown levels, the types of viewing have changed. The number of people watching TV at the time of broadcast on a TV set has not changed from 2019 levels; we are all watching live TV at some point every day. Catch up TV (e.g. BBC iPlayer, All 4, SkyGo/SkyQ, ITV Hub etc.) has increased only very slightly (32% reach in 2019 rising to 35% reach in lockdown). More of us are watching free on demand video (e.g. box sets, films from BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4 etc), up from 15% in 2019 to 20% in lockdown.

The biggest increase in reach is for paid for on-demand video (e.g. Netflix, Amazon Prime video, paid You Tube etc.). This has risen from 45% reach in 2019 to 51% reach in lockdown. Longer online videos (e.g. via YouTube, Twitch etc.) are being watched by more people, growing from 20% reach in 2019 to 27% reach in lockdown.

Not only are more of us watching but our time spent watching has also increased. Watching live broadcast TV has increased by 13% compared to pre-lockdown. Time spent with paid for on demand TV has increased by 44% and watching longer online video has increased by 27% since pre-lockdown.

Patterns of viewing for some types of TV viewing is very similar, comparing pre-lockdown with lockdown. This is true for live broadcast TV and paid for on demand TV. However, when we look at free on demand viewing, there are significant increases in the evening from around 7pm until 10.30pm. Longer online videos show morning and afternoon spikes in lockdown.

Our motivations to watch TV are polarising. More of us watch because it simply makes us feel better, whilst others are turning to TV for reassurance and as a means of keeping up to date.

Now turning to audio and the effects of lockdown. There are fewer people listening to radio on a radio set, car radio or a TV set during lockdown. Undoubtedly this is because we are all at home and not commuting. However, listening levels outside of commuting/school run times are significantly higher than the pre-lockdown or 2019 levels.

It is interesting to note that in terms of reach, streamed online music (e.g. Spotify, Apple Music etc.) are on a par with their 2019 levels. Fewer people are listening to their own personal digital music or audio collection compared to their 2019 levels. The reach for listening to your own personal collection on CD or vinyl has also decreased from the 2019 level.

More of us are turning to news brands delivered digitally with an increase of 7% in terms of reach. The reach for reading magazines online has not changed in lockdown. The reach for magazines in print has only decreased very slightly, perhaps because more magazine titles are subscription and rely less on people to go out to buy them.

Lockdown has had a significant and potentially damaging effect on our emotional state. There have been decreases in the amount of time spent feeling confident (down 46%), and happy (down 11%) and a 31% increase in time spent feeling sad.

This fall in the amount of time spent feeling happy equates to three hours and 9 minutes less per week than before lockdown started.

Those aged 65+ are the most emotionally affected since the start of lockdown, reporting the highest levels of increase in time spent feeling sad (up 46%) and angry (up 41%) along with reductions in time spent feeling happy (down 14%).

Lockdown is impacting every area of daily life, how we live and work and how we consume media. For those working at home the differences between weekdays and weekends are becoming less defined and we see different media consumption levels during the day. Whilst significant numbers of people remain in lockdown, these patterns will continue and develop to become the next normal.