2012 was a great year for the UK. London hosted the Olympics and Paralympics and the nation celebrated the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. It was also the year of peak TV viewing as record audiences tuned in to watch a summer of sports including the Euros. It was also the year that sowed the seeds of linear TV's decline.
Whilst video-on-demand (VOD) services had existed for several years through cable operators, it was really the BBC that popularised it through the launch of BBC iPlayer in 2007, promising that viewers could watch what they want when they want. It was the 2012 launch of Netflix in the UK when the structural decline of linear TV really began to accelerate.
Fast forward a decade and nearly half of all on-demand viewing is through Netflix, with the Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs) combined viewing through BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All4 and My5 accounting for just 12% of VOD-viewing. In the meantime, younger TV audiences have collapsed - under 16 viewing is down 70% and 16-24 viewing is down by over 55%. The only resilient audience for linear TV is the 65+ whose viewing has barely dropped - and as a result are the next growth area for the US streamers.
The global pandemic no doubt enhanced this trend further, as Ofcom reported huge growth in SVOD usage in the UK, up 50% from 20m in 2020 to 31m subscriptions in 2021. Over half of all UK homes subscribe to Netflix, which has more customers than all pay-TV operators combined.
The new entrants have spent massively on their original content to build and retain subscribers, leading to a huge High-End TV production boom in the UK. Disney will be spending $33bn on content next year, Netflix will be spending $19bn - and whilst these figures are for global platforms, they dwarf the content spend of the UK's broadcasters. Against this backdrop, the content spend of the PSBs dropped nearly 20% in 2020 due to cost-cutting measures relating to the reduced BBC Licence Fee and the TV ad market during the COVID19 lockdowns.
We know that the UK's TV ecology is challenged, and yet linear TV remains a hugely important source of trusted news, learning and entertainment for millions. It remains popular with older and lower-income households and still holds the power to bring the nation together at moments of national crisis and sporting triumph.
Around 20% of the population are still without the internet - that's well over ten million people. These are largely older households for around half of them it's not about cost or connectivity - they simply don't want it. These viewers rely on traditional linear TV to keep them informed and to connect them to the world. TV is often their only companion for days on end in normal times, and much more so during the months of isolating during the COVID19 lockdowns, providing the company they so greatly needed.
Universal free-to-view television is a cornerstone of our broadcasting biology. Millions of people are unable to shift from linear to streaming due to broadband costs, poor connectivity and digital exclusion.
So in 2022 as we slowly make our way into this "new normal", we must remember that not everyone in our society is ready or even wants to embrace these new platforms. As broadcasters, and as a society, we cannot leave millions of people behind. We'll risk losing the civic, educational and democratic value that public service media provides.
At Together TV, we believe that the power of linear television will remain strong for at least the next decade. We will continue to reach millions of people through TV and digital channels, and this Spring we will be launching our own catch-up service across TV, tablet, mobile and desktop devices. It is a natural extension as anticipated by all including our viewers and will further our reach into new markets.
So as we look at this decade of disruption, from the 2012 Olympics to the Platinum Jubilee this year, we can see huge shifts in consumer habits towards the new and also the vital need to maintain what has come before.
At Together TV we value this continuity along with embracing the opportunities opening up to us - and all the while we will continue our mission to combat social isolation through our inspiring content and motivating engagement campaigns, creating behavioural and social change at the national scale. We ask our viewers to Channel Their Inner Good - and you'd be surprised just how many millions of them do so.
Alexander Kann, Chief Executive of Together TV
Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash