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Industry Contributor 19 Aug 2019 - 2 min read

Changes in audio and video content consumption are 'mind blowing', there's more to come

By Gai Le Roy, CEO - IAB Australia

Video and audio content consumption continues to expand but with fascinating (and stark) differences across different age groups according to a UK report.


Key points

  • The UK population is spending just over four and a half hours per day watching video. This amount of time per day (as an average) blows my mind
  • Consumption differs starkly by age with live TV making up 56 per cent of video time for the total population but just 30 per cent for people aged 16-34
  • Age differences are even stronger for audio listening with live radio comprising 67 per cent of the audio time for the total population and only 28 per cent for people 16-34 
  • As non-ad supported video and audio options increase, brilliant content and ad experiences are key for digital and non-digital media alike 

UK’s independent regulator for the communications services, Ofcom, has released its second annual Media Nations Report, which reviews key trends in the television, online video, radio and other audio sectors.  It’s an incredibly useful report for the Australian market despite the obvious market differences - as everyone in Australia knows only too well that pulling together a holistic view of cross device consumption is no mean feat. 

The age differences fascinates me and although I won’t get bogged in a “millennials” market debate, I totally agree that it shouldn’t change marketers overarching strategy.  But goodness it will impact the implementation of marketers' strategies. 

Video consumption time is probably even higher than stated in the report - and it’s only getting harder to capture an absolutely accurate picture of video time with the increase in short form video content across media environments that have not traditionally classed as “video” environments (eg. short news and sport clips and videos with a range of social environments). 

Video time across screens is still dominated by ad funded content, though SVOD and non-ad supported gaming time has increased. Audio is a trickier market to pull apart, particularly with the mix of ad supported and non-ad supported listening in streaming products like Spotify. However, overall the TV industry seems to have done a better job than the radio industry of transitioning audiences to non-live options. I will be interested to see how and if this changes over the coming years - particularly with broadcaster moves into the podcasting.

What do you think?

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