Generation i love tv

Dubbed ‘Generation i’ by some because of having so much tech at their fingertips and thousands of hours of TV available through on-demand services, an astonishing 89 per cent of children’s viewing time is still devoted to live TV programming, says TV Licensing’s TeleScope 2014 report.

Children still rush home from school to make sure they catch their favourite television programmes as they are televised, despite a proliferation of different ways to watch TV and other digital gadgets to keep them entertained.

They spend two hours 23 minutes a day watching TV, an hour and a half less than the national average of three hours 55 minutes. Even though almost half of all children aged 5 to 15 use the likes of a PC or tablet to watch TV – nearly all (98 per cent) spend time sitting in front of the ‘traditional’ living room TV set, reveals the report.

TeleScope 2014, which examines children’s viewing habits now and in the past, also outlines family research results, provides a unique ‘Trip Down Memory Lane’ and reveals top types of children’s TV across the years.

Despite three quarters of UK homes having a PVR, today’s children – as did their parents and grandparents before them- like to hurry home for fear of missing their favourite show. In 2013, eight of the top 10 children’s programmes were shown on school days between 4.30pm and 6.30pm.

However, as tablet ownership increases among children, where they are watching TV is changing, especially in their bedrooms. In 2013, the use of tablets at home has tripled (42 per cent from 14 per cent in 2012) for 5 to 15-year-olds, whilst those who had a TV in their bedroom dropped (from 59 per cent to 52 per cent).

Pipa Doubtfire, Head of Revenue Management, BBC TV Licensing, said: “Children’s TV – as well as wider family entertainment programming - continues to play a central role in households. The families we spoke to during our research for TeleScope 2014 had a wide variety of viewing habits, but all found TV programmes had the ability to bring the family together.

“It was also fascinating to see despite children having more devices and more ways in which to consume their favourite shows, the traditional TV set and live viewing are still the overwhelmingly the most favoured methods. With so many ways to watch TV, it’s important to remember a TV Licence is needed to watch programmes online via your computer, laptop or tablet as they’re being shown on TV.”