Survey: Young folk watch the majority of TV online

Over half of young Irish people now watch the majority of their TV online according to a new survey carried out by youth charity SpunOut.ie.

Are you a young fella under or around the age of 25? If so, chances are you watch most of your telly online. That’s according to a new survey that shows 53% of young people aged between 16 and 25 consume the majority of their TV through online sources compared to 47% who watch TV either live or through a playback service on a TV set.

Compared to the old folk, 43% of 26-34 year olds, 13.5% of 35-49 year olds and only 5% of over 50s watch the majority of their TV online.

Having said that, all this online TV watching isn’t exactly above board – not that you’d be into any of that pirating lark, right? Illegal sources account for 35% of TV consumption by under 25s with one in four streaming TV content through websites such as PutLocker and Novamov and 10% downloading TV shows through torrent sites like The Pirate Bay and Bit Torrent.

Surprisingly, just 1 in 5 young people consumed TV through legal online sources with 5% streaming live through an official player, 9% streaming playback and 6% paying to use an official streaming service such as Netflix.

So how bad is all this illegal online TV watching? Well, the survey found that no young people said that paid downloads were their preferred method for watching TV… Yikes.

Despite this shift, traditional consumption methods hold up well with 32% of young people still consuming the majority of their TV live as it airs on a TV set, with 15% saying their main way of watching TV is to catch up on a DVR or playback service like Sky+ on their TV.

Of those who watch the majority of their TV online, nearly half (49%) have a home broadband speed of 30 MB per second or greater.

Over 850 people over the age of 16 were asked about their TV viewing habits by SpunOut.ie who conducted the survey to coincide with a 30 minute live webcast made by 124 young people to celebrate the launch of their new website. It will focus on a number of social issues affecting young people including cyberbullying, mental health, sexual health and alcohol consumption.

The #SpunOutLIVE webcast will air at 8pm tonight (Wednesday) on SpunOut.ie and will be hosted by RTE’s Stephen Byrne and feature a performance by teen music sensation SOAK who has just signed a record deal with Universal