Yes, broadcast TV might be dying – but students, give it one more chance

“Gen Z and Alpha are used to swiping and streaming, not flipping through broadcast TV channels.” Those are the words of Ian Macrae, Director of Market Intelligence at Ofcom, the UK’s broadcasting regulator. Take one look at the statistics, and you’d be inclined to agree with Macrae: young people seem to no longer be watching live TV.

Gone are the days of three decades ago when people had the choice of only five terrestrial TV channels; a time when EastEnders was appointment viewing (a Christmas Day episode of the BBC soap in 1986 racked up over 30 million viewers, setting a UK TV record). Nowadays, the choice is truly endless: from Netflix to Disney+, YouTube to TikTok, there is always something new to be watched, whenever you want to watch it.

It is perhaps unsurprising then that Gen Z seem to be shunning the more traditional TV channels, with their offerings of countless documentaries about air fryers and wall-to-wall quiz programming, and turning instead to streaming platforms and their ever-popular series like Squid Game, Bridgerton, and Adolescence.

Indeed, in 2024, less than half of 16- to 24-year-olds tuned into the so-called ‘traditional TV’ channels – whether that be watching them live or catching up at another time, through services like BBC iPlayer and ITVX. In sharp contrast to daily screen times of over six hours, young people were found to be watching only 20 minutes of live TV every week – a far cry from viewing times of recent years; even just a year prior, traditional TV consumption was still 16% higher among the same age group.

Traditional TV offers us a rare opportunity to reconnect over a shared moment

Nevertheless, despite these changing viewing habits, a mention of the words The Traitors, Race Across the World, or Strictly Come Dancing while chatting on the FAB steps or procrastinating in the library will no doubt trigger a reaction of “I watch that too!”, and hours later, you’ll find yourself deeply engrossed in conversation, picking apart all the details of the latest episodes.

While all the big hitters ­– BBC, ITV, Channel 4 – may indeed be quickly haemorrhaging viewers to the likes of Netflix and Disney+, it is important not to understate the impact that traditional TV channels can still have: they offer us a rare opportunity to reconnect over a shared moment; they provide a sense of togetherness. This is no better summed up than by the words of BBC continuity announcer, Duncan Newmarch, when introducing the Strictly final in 2020. Hours before, Boris Johnson had just announced a new tier of lockdown restrictions, meaning many families were to be torn apart from each other, just days before Christmas. Christmas plans were scuppered, and families were forced to stay home and reconsider their plans. While some families would have resorted to watching films or streaming a new addition to Netflix, many turned to the Strictly final. The ‘liveness’ of the traditional TV meant that, despite families being separated, they were brought together through conversation, not necessarily around the dinner table, but inspired by the dances that they were all watching at the same time. “Whether […] in Tyne and Wear, Devon, Berkshire, or Lincolnshire,” Newmarch remarked, “we are all watching BBC One together.” And he was right.

Though that might seem like a slight tangent, what I’m trying to say is that broadcast TV can offer the same sense of connection to students as it did to families during Covid. At a time when students all seem to be doing different things at different times – perhaps contributing to the epidemic of loneliness we are seeing among young people (nearly seven in 10 young Brits reported feeling lonely in a recent report) –  traditional TV offers us a rare opportunity to reconnect over a shared moment. My weekly Thursday morning Race Across the World debriefs with friends became an integral part of my third term, while Strictly and Bake Off accompanied the cold and dark autumn nights in my flat. Many of my memories from early this year come from when my flatmates and I were gathered around the kitchen table to see what dancefloor delights or culinary disasters would grace our screens that week.

The streaming services seem to retain that sense of separation between viewers

Traditional TV really offers that sense of being connected in the moment that streaming cannot achieve. The one-episode-a-week nature of reality TV or competition shows will draw me back in every week in a way that series on Netflix or Apple TV cannot. Perhaps, I am in the minority there – 6.45 million people watched the first episode of Adolescence in its first week of release earlier this year, and that certainly got people talking, whether on social media, or on TV, even in political circles. Personally, however, Adolescence passed me over (a miss on my part, perhaps), and even when it comes to popular Netflix series that I have watched, like One Day, I was still behind the crowd, only finishing the series a few weeks ago – over a year after it was first released.

The streaming services seem to retain that sense of separation between viewers that traditional TV doesn’t – it’s not conducive to real-time conversation about what happened on the latest episode of, say, The Traitors or Love Island. No posting on social media about the latest development in the JoJo Siwa/Chris Hughes relationship, no turning to your flatmate and saying that a Strictly contestant was robbed of a 10 from Craig, no messaging your friend “Justice for Yin and Gaz” the day after they were knocked out of Race Across the World.

Maybe I’m preaching about something that’s already disappeared, that can no longer be saved. 17.4 million households in the UK now have a Netflix subscription, while only 4.2 million viewers watched the season finale of this year’s Race Across the World. Perhaps streaming services and short-form content is the way forward for TV, especially for young people. But, this is my love letter to traditional TV – a call to students to give traditional TV a chance. While I don’t spend all my free time watching TV, it’s certainly brought me closer to some of my friends at university. So, don’t give up traditional TV – give that latest series on BBC iPlayer that you’ve been putting off a chance. You never know what conversation it’ll lead you to next time you’re taking a well-needed break from studies