Media analyst Claire Enders has warned UK advertisers that the rising popularity of non-public-service TV content is producing fundamental viewing changes from which "we will not go back".
Speaking at the IPA's advertising effectiveness conference EffWeek, Enders, founder of Enders Analysis, highlighted data that showed children are now watching just 42% of the amount of traditional TV that they viewed in 2010.
"YouTube and Netflix have slowly but surely decimated young [TV] audiences in particular," she said, expressing concern that many parents are not adequately supervising how their children are consuming media.
"We have a huge amount of rogue viewing particularly by under-16s and a constant debasing of a certain phenomenology of childhood, particularly around exposure to violence, pornography and inappropriate material," Enders, a fellow of the Royal Television Society and a former NSPCC trustee, warned.
There will be further impact, especially on national broadcasters, when new streaming players such as Apple TV+ and Disney+ arrive in the UK next year, she added.
"The US capital markets are causing an avalanche of material to be made for the world and dropped on this market [at a loss]," Enders said. "You’re dealing with a world of completely subsidised dumped material in your market, which is going to make fundamental changes to viewing patterns – and we will not go back."
Advertisers may have greater choice with the rise of online media, but should also put value on the safe brand environment created by UK TV regulation.
"TV is the medium that is the most respectful of the country that we really are," she continued. "Not just because of PSB regulations but also because regulations force the broadcasters to correctly portray women, different social classes and BAME.
"There is no relegation of that type around Netflix, YouTube, Amazon and Disney+, and I’m saying this because all advertisers must always remember that their beautiful content has to sit in a safe environment too and it has to sit in an environment which never denigrates any fellow citizens, because the greatest brand damage is when there’s a harm from that advert.
"And that is very important to understand about why television broadcasting is always going to be sustained, because it is a unique way of getting across values that are progressive, kind, generous and democratic.
"So that is why I will be fighting for public-service broadcasting for the next 10 years in the teeth of politicians who tell me we don’t need it any more because we have Netflix and YouTube."
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