UK kids’ TV viewing keeps dropping

The amount of time children spend online will overtake their television viewing for the first time within the next two years, according to a new report.

UK kids are spending an average of six-and-a-half hours a day in front of a screen, but TV is increasingly losing out to mobiles, tablets and consoles, according to market researcher Childwise’s Connected Kids report.

The trend means that children could spend more hours online than they do watching television by 2017, while TV programmes will increasingly be viewed on tablets rather than on a traditional TV set, laptop or PC.

The report points out that children are also often watching two screens at the same time – for example, by using tablets while they watch TV.

The use of tablet devices, however, is making it harder for parents to monitor what their children are viewing on the internet, meaning that protecting children from inappropriate content online will be a “continuing issue going forward.”

“TV viewing on traditional sets continues to decline at a steady rate, whilst hours spent online will increase. Children expect to choose the content they engage with and on-demand services like Netflix will be the norm,” the report states.

The annual Childwise study surveys around 2,000 children, aged five to 16, and looks at their media consumption and purchasing behaviour.

It has also found that children will increasingly expect to be able to access the internet anywhere and everywhere, and their ability be online may begin to influence their willingness to participate in family holidays and trips out.