TV’s Disappearing Act

Television viewing among 18- to 24-year-olds reaches its lowest level yet.

The latest figures from Nielsen are quite telling: The decline in TV watching by younger viewers is continuing – and it’s doing so at an accelerating pace.

Looking at year-over-year numbers and taking an average of the four quarters in each year since 2011, we see that the average number of hours younger viewers (age 18-24) spend watching television has been slipping quite dramatically:

2011: ~24.8 hours spent watching TV weekly
2012: ~22.9 hours
2013: ~22.0 hours
2014: ~19.0 hours

It’s nearly a 25% decline over just four years. More significantly, the most recent yearly decline has been at a much faster clip than Nielsen has recorded before:

2011-12 change: -7.7%
2012-13 change: -3.9%
2013-14 change: -13.6%

So far this year, the trend doesn’t appear to be changing. 1^st quarter figures from Nielsen peg weekly TV viewing by younger viewers at approximately 18 hours. If this level of decline continues for the balance of the year, watching TV among younger viewers will be off by an even bigger margin than last year.

There’s no question that the “great disappearing television audience” is due mainly because of the younger generation of viewers. By contrast, people over the age of 50 surveyed by Nielsen watch an average of 47.2 hours of television per week — nearly three times higher.

Lest you think that the time saved by younger viewers is going into outdoor activities or other recreational pursuits and interests, that’s certainly not the case. They’re spending as much time using digital devices (smartphones, tablets and/or PCs) as they are watching TV.