Hearts & Minds: Rise of YouTube poses existential questions for old order

The old order is eroding and comms must move accordingly. That is the conclusion to be drawn from the latest report of Ofcom, the British media watchdog. We’ve been here before of course, with studies galore highlighting this or that change, but this study feels seminal. It’s marking the rise of YouTube, finding that the video platform is now the second-most watched service in the UK, behind the BBC but ahead of ITV and other commercial networks.

Not only that, among generation Alpha, YouTube is their number one TV destination. One in five young TV viewers aged from four to 15 turned straight to the platform last year. Netflix is close behind. While BBC One was in their top five first choices, children were just as likely to choose BBC iPlayer.

In the UK, from the point a child became aware of the TV screen, the BBC was always there. The habit would begin early and stay with people all their lives, To be fair, there was not much of a selection, but it was just done, accepted. The public service broadcaster acted as the nation’s comfort blanket, reassuring and ever present (same with the major networks in the US). That is what the black box in every household, office, bar and café was showing.

Not anymore. A cultural shift is well under way.

The traditional stations are losing at one end, no longer able to grab them young. Significantly, though, Ofcom says they are failing at the other. Viewers aged 55 and over watched almost twice as much YouTube content last year as they did in 2023, up from six minutes a day to 11 minutes a day. An increasing proportion of that - 42% - is viewed through a TV set.

That leaves the mainstream broadcasters with a dilemma: how can they hit back, how much of their output do they put on YouTube, knowing it will further reduce their audiences and hit ad revenues? It also impacts heavily on comms. Priorities, schedules, methods must be rethought. Once, the BBC, ITV cameras and journalists dominated the airwaves. Where does this leave Sky News, long a business staple but now not so? These, and more require addressing.

It's not just in the UK but everywhere, and not only in TV. The leader of the free world has been elected, largely on the back of ignoring MSM. Soon, it will not even be mainstream.

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.