LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - A further study has warned that the decline of traditional TV viewing could accelerate to the point where UK broadcasters lose most of their advertising revenues.


According to a new study from Ebiquity, the viewing trend away from traditional TV towards online platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime that has already seen by the 16 to 34 age group, will spread out to other demographics.

This could result in advertisers choosing not to spend their money on TV campaigns as they will no longer be as cost-effective. Broadcasters, such as ITV and Channel 4, need the campaigns to stay afloat and the study revealed that they face a "tipping point" in the next five years.

By 2022, Ebiquity foresaw a worst-case scenario where there will be 45% fewer ads viewed by 16-34 year-olds, a 30% fall among the 'housewives and kids' demographic group and a 15% decline among adults in the prime ABC1 demographic.

This tipping point could be avoided, the report said, as broadcasters could still evolve with the new trends and create counter-strategies.

Christian Polman, chief strategy officer at Ebiquity, said: "TV has been the go-to media channel for advertisers seeking mass-reach. We are saying that unless action is taken by advertisers and broadcasters that by 2022 TV will no longer hold the crown as having the highest return on investment on a media plan. Advertisers will need to re-evaluate their media plans and investment."

Earlier this month, in a note on European TV companies, analysts at BoA Merrill Lynch said they think the market "underappreciates the pace of the decline in TV consumption and concurrent rise of online video".

"The UK is the European TV market most ripe for disruption and where we expect the share of TV to fall first."

Noting that "advertising follows the eyeballs," the analysts said ITV needed to invest "materially" more in its online operation, ITV Hub "it wants to combat the wave of video fragmentation".

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