Analysts are claiming that young people are switching off from TV sport "as part of a drop in average audiences of nearly a tenth in six years," according to Christopher Williams of the London TELEGRAPH. The findings come amid concerns surrounding BT and Sky "about a sharp decline in football audience this season." Research by Ampere Analysis found that 18 to 24-year-olds, the younger end of the so-called “millennial” age group, were "significantly less likely to consider themselves sports fans than the overall population." Ampere said that it "appeared to be a recent phenomenon, citing comparable research a decade ago that found 18 to 24-year-olds were over-represented among sports fans." According to the latest findings, young people are now 17% "less likely to identify sport as their favourite form of programming than the general population." Richard Broughton of Ampere said that the data should “ring alarm bells” for pay-TV operators, such as BT and Sky. He suggested that the rise of online streaming services such as Netflix and YouTube, as well as social media, "was providing stronger competition for young people's attention." Ampere said that for a basket of sports programming across Sky, BT and Eurosport channels, average weekly viewing is down 9% since '10. Broughton said, "Broadcasters and sports bodies need to encourage millenials back to sport, after all, they are the fans, viewers -- and subscribers -- of tomorrow" (TELEGRAPH, 11/10). BROADBAND TV NEWS' Julian Clover reported TV viewing figures "appear to support what consumers have been telling the analysts." It has been "widely reported in the U.S. that broadcast audiences for NFL matches have dropped across all major networks." Across the first four weeks of the '16 season, NBC’s Sunday night games were down 13% year-on-year, ESPN Monday night games were down 17%, CBS Thursday night games down by 15%. Fox and CBS Sunday nights "were the best performers, down 3%" (BROADBAND TV NEWS, 11/11).
