In response to a new Ofcom Media Nations 2022 report showing young people now watch almost seven times less broadcast television than over-65s, and consume TikTok more than TV, a spokesperson for County Broadband, which is building full-fibre networks for thousands of rural residents and businesses in the East of England, commented:
“The new Ofcom research should act as a wake-up call for any local business in the East of England which has yet to reap the benefits of reaching wider and younger audiences on social media.
“The report found that around a fifth of UK homes (5.2 million) now subscribe to all three of the most popular platforms – Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video – while the average time spent watching services such as BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub and All 4 increased to 15 minutes per day.
“Our digital lifestyles are vastly becoming the norm, even in rural areas, and we’re seeing growing levels of interest from local businesses and residents who have connected to our full-fibre networks to take advantage of lightning-fast video uploads and data transfers. We expect this shift in perception of social media to gain greater traction as we connect thousands more rural communities to gigabit speeds.
“And while it comes as no surprise that more young people watch TikTok than traditional TV, it should be noted that the likes of the BBC and ITV have made giant strides just within the last year to shift their programmes and content onto the platform with great success, meaning some of the headline stats could be slightly misleading without analysing evolving trends.”
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