Kids watch note than twice as much online video as adults, according to new Ofcom figures.

The generational divide in viewing behaviour is nothing new: stats from BBC iPlayer how that viewers of catch-up content are more in line with the younger demographic of web users than the traditional, older TV audience. The difference, though, can be found even more clearly when considering sites such as YouTube.

Yesterday, we reported that Minecraft videos on the video site have so far been watched a total of 47 billion times – a figure that places the video game firmly in most-watched kids’ TV content territory, despite not being shown on what is considered to be “TV”.

Ofcom’s Children’s Digital Day report emphasises that distinction in viewer attitudes. Children between the ages of 11 and 15 watch half the amount of live TV per day that adults do – 1 hour 32 minutes compared to 2 hours 58 minutes. Online video clips, though, are far more their thing: children spend a whopping six times longer watching short online content than adults – 33 minutes, compared to 5 minutes.

Indeed, almost half (45 per cent) of 11 to 15 year olds watch online video clips every week compared to just one in five adults – more than double. To show just how much that defines their consideration of “TV”, Ofcom shows that shorter online clips make up 19 per cent of overall viewing time for 11 to 15 year olds, compared to a mere 2 per cent for adults.

In the realm of catch-up TV (iPlayer, etc), kids and adults watch roughly the same amount each day – 13 minutes versus 12 – although adults are more likely to use these services every week (38 per cent versus 26 per cent). While parents might dip into a movie trailer between episodes of EastEnders, though, their kids are very much doing things the other way around.

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