A wise man once said that information is the oil of the 21st century and analytics the combustion engine. Here is some information to analyse.
Almost a decade ago when I first started to offer workshops to teach communications people how to plan, shoot, edit and post effective video there were strong signs that this trend was happening.
In 2023, to say that people watch a lot of video is as bold as saying it rains a lot in Manchester. It’s describing the world as it is.
What, however, is still useful is data and insight that paints this picture. This is where Ofcom come in. Buried in the 2023 Communications Market Report is data on video consumption. This is important stuff. It shows what demographics are watching what.
Frustratingly, LinkedIn is missing which now has video as an important strand. So is WhatsApp which has become a video sharing network by default. But there is enough here to
Video consumption in the UK by channel and demographic
| Age | YouTube | TikTok | Snapchat | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13-17 | 90 | 70 | 66 | 58 | 46 | 30 |
| 18-24 | 85 | 78 | 49 | 58 | 71 | 52 |
| 25-34 | 83 | 66 | 31 | 29 | 74 | 41 |
| 35-44 | 85 | 52 | 23 | 18 | 77 | 42 |
| 45-54 | 74 | 35 | 15 | 8 | 73 | 36 |
| 55-64 | 69 | 26 | 7 | 5 | 69 | 27 |
| 65+ | 55 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 63 | 15 |
YouTube is consumed across the board by all demographics with even the majority of over 60s watching this channel.
Instagram is strong amongst under 34s with around three quarters watching video here.
TikTok is strongest amongst Gen Z.
Snapchat remains the forgotten channel for older communicators who don’t tend to use the teenage-friendly platform themselves.
Facebook is consistently strong across all demographics but especially older age groups.
Twitter is most used for video by 18 to 24-year-olds.
This data is a starting point for you to understand how best to use video. The fact that your audience is on the channel doesn’t translate to they will automatically be watching your content. You have to earn the right and part of that is to creater content that will work for each individual channel.
I help deliver workshops to teach communications people how to use video. ESSENTIAL VIDEO SKILLS FOR COMMS REBOOTED is your starting place for social video and ESSENTIAL TIKTOK & REELS is the starting place for portrait-shaped video.