12-15 year olds prefer YouTube to TV

Technology clearly has its limits. When researching this piece and looking for a suitable image representing a "digital native" the stock photo library we use offered this good but rather irrelevant image. A world where humans are replaced by machines might have more laughs than we think.

To the point - Ofcom have released some new research which continues the tracking of the behaviour of the digital natives and some key points emerge;

12-15 year olds now spend 3.5 hours more per week online than watching TV. 15.5 hours for TV and 18.9 hours online.

Within that same group who watch both TV and YouTube a greater number now say they prefer YouTube to TV for the first time.

Whilst the spin on the report highlights that children trust the internet more than they should the substance of the report paints a picture of changed habits among the next generation that will make the traditional Pay TV model quite niche.

This possibly explains the new SkyQ ultra premium concept where a smallish group who are not price sensitive at all pay top dollar for an all you eat package while the bulk of the market take smaller pay as go type packages.

Into the mix will come YouTube Red (ad free subscription based), NetFlix etc etc and when the dust has settled the primarily linear pay tv model will be gone.