When I was a kid, I remember finishing school, kicking off my clothes and running outside to play. I didn’t have a TV. Well, I did in my living room but nothing like that in my bedroom. However, this kid like active lifestyle seems to have changed. New research conducted by gadget insurance provider, Row.co.uk has found that almost one fifth of kids in the UK have TVs in their rooms. That’s a whopping 3,914,000 kids.
What’s interesting is that despite these kids having so much access, people under 16 years old watch less TV a day than the average UK adult. Bed time and school is to blame for this reduced figure but I’m not sure, I’m still clinging to kids love playing outside.
This is all well and good, but I must say here that TV in a whole is on the decline. UK residents have reduced their TV time by 30 minutes a day. Enter Netflix and BBC iPlayer. Online streaming services are being blamed for this reduction.
According to Ofcom in a report from 2015: 27% of 5-15 year olds watched TV on a tablet, 23% watched on a form of PC and 15% on their mobiles. At the end of 2015 they also reported that 5,422,000 of households in the UK had Netflix. This in turn is making UK residents ditch their TVs for more modern ways of viewing such as desktops and laptops.
Richard Waters, Managing Director at Row, said: “It’s clear from this data that the way Brits are watching programmes and movies is evolving. The UK is turning its back on the focal point of every living room, the TV, and embracing the smaller, more convenient screens of our mobiles and tablets.”
I suppose this makes sense, streaming services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime cost far less than a subsciption to Sky or Virgin and can be accessed from anywhere with a WiFi signal. Now BRB, Daredevil season two on Netflix is getting good. In the meantime, check out this awesome infographic below.
