Children and teenagers are increasingly watching TV through a smartphone and using on-demand services according to the latest MediaCom research.
The study showed that 33 per cent of teenagers regularly view TV content via a smartphone, significantly more than the 25 per cent who did so in 2016. Alongside this, teenagers are increasingly choosing to watch TV using on-demand services, with 38 per cent selecting this as their most common way to view – higher than the 35 per cent who watch most of their TV live.
The study also showed that smartphone ownership has significantly grown among pre-teens within the last year. Two thirds (66 per cent) of 8-12 year olds now own a smartphone, compared to only 49 per cent in 2015 and 58 per cent in 2016.
Josh Krichefski, CEO, MediaCom UK, said: “Mobile and on demand services have changed viewing patterns of everyday consumers. While 84 per cent of young people regularly watch live programming on TV, the explosion of streaming services such as NowTV and Amazon Instant Video show that ‘live’ is no longer the only way kids watch.”
Netflix remains the most used streaming service with 58 per cent of 13-19 year olds subscribing to it, but is the only platform that hasn’t experienced growth since last year. Amazon Instant Video comes second, with 32 per cent of teenagers using the streaming service (up from 24 per cent last year). Fifteen per cent of teens use NowTV and 11 per cent watch content on Apple TV.
