Global Stats Show TV Dominates Millennials’ Media Lives

TORONTO: Despite the increasing popularity of online services such as YouTube and Netflix, TV remains the dominant form of video for younger generations, according to the latest data gathered from around the globe ahead of World Television Day.

New data from 10 countries (including the U.S., Canada, Australia, Germany, the U.K. and France) shows how much TV Millennials now watch, how it is the dominant form of video in their lives, how important the TV set remains, the huge reach of TV, and their attitudes towards TV advertising.

Although countries measure and report TV consumption in different ways, the global statistics reveal that young people are watching a lot of TV: In the U.S., 18-24s watch an average of 2 hours, 33 minutes (2:33) of TV a day and 25-34s watch an average of 3:50 per day. In Ireland, 15-34s watch an average 2:25 of TV a day—86 percent of this is watched live. 16-34s in the U.K. watch 2:23 minutes of linear TV on a TV set a day, while 18-34s in Germany watch 2:21 of TV a day. In Belgium 12-24s are watching an average of 1:29 of TV a day—10 minutes more a day than in 2010. Italian 15-34s watch an average of 2:33 of TV a day, and 18-34s in Canada watch 2:43 of linear TV a day.

Some new video services, such as Netflix and YouTube, have gained popularity in recent years. The data gathered from different countries shows their popularity among younger generations relative to TV. In Germany, 74 percent of 14-29s' video consumption is accounted for by TV; 26 percent by online video. TV content accounts for 70 percent of 15-24s' video consumption in France, and for 65 percent of 16-24s' total video consumption in the U.K.; 7 percent is YouTube and 4 percent is subscription VOD services such as Netflix. 18-34s in Canada spend 7.6 times more time watching TV each week than they do on YouTube (19 hours vs. 2.5 hours), 17 times more time with TV than with Netflix (1.1 hours) and 3.3 times more with TV than they spend on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter combined (5.2 hours, 0.4 hours, 0.2 hours, respectively). TV accounts for 41 percent of 14-24s' media day in the U.K. (the next most popular media activity is social networking/messaging, which accounts for 15.7 percent). In the U.S., 18-34s spend more time online with ad-supported TV brands than with Google, AOL, MSN and Yahoo! combined or with Facebook. On average, 18-34s in the U.S. spend 39 minutes a month watching TV online compared with 25 minutes with Google/AOL/MSN/Yahoo! and 23 minutes with Facebook.

Even as new screens proliferate, which means that TV can be watched wherever and whenever people want, the TV set remains Millennials' favorite way to watch: In the U.K., 70 percent of 16-24s' total video consumption—65 percent of which is TV—takes place on a TV set. In Australia, 25-34s spend 80.1 percent of their screen viewing time watching broadcast TV on a TV set, compared to 9.3 percent watching video on laptops, 5.6 percent on smartphones and 5.1 percent on tablets. For 15-34s in Finland, 60 percent of their time spent watching TV and other video content is on TV sets. 99 percent of 13-34s in the Netherlands own a TV set, and in Germany, 76 percent of 14-25s' total video contact continues to happen on the TV set.

The new data also shows that Millennials are more favorable towards TV advertising than other forms: 16-24s in the U.K. find TV advertising more enjoyable, memorable and humorous than any other media—54 percent enjoy TV advertising, compared to 16 percent for social media; 69 percent say TV advertising makes them laugh, compared to 24 percent for social; and 73 percent say TV advertising is memorable, compared to 17 percent for social media. With Italian 18-34s, 65.7 percent claim they pay attention to TV advertising. In Canada, 18-34s say they are most likely to pay attention to advertising on TV than other media: 39 percent picked TV, compared to 12 percent for social networks and 2 percent for mobile. They also chose TV as the form of video advertising they are most likely to watch: 64 percent for TV compared to 7 percent for phone, 11 percent for tablet and 16 percent for computer.