Media consumption falling as lockdown eases, Havas Media finds

But newspapers and magazines saw a slight increase in consumption in the ninth Covid-19 Media Behaviours Report, which is based on a survey of 1,472 people across the UK between 20th and 21st July.

In the previous four weeks to the dates of the survey, there was a 6% fall in people claiming to watch more live television than they did before the lockdown was implemented in the UK in March.

Social media websites saw a 3% decrease, and there was a similar fall in music streaming, the survey found.

Streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime saw a 2% net decrease in people claiming to watch them more than they did pre-lockdown, and there were 1% drops seen in VOD platforms, radio and podcasts.

But there was a 1% rise in respondents reporting greater consumption of newspapers and magazines compared with before lockdown.

Eva Grimmett, chief strategy officer at Havas Media Group, said: “There have been notable declines in the consumption of many media channels, as people begin to return to some form of normality.

“However, there’s some positive news for newspaper and magazine brands, a sector that has been hugely impacted by the pandemic, with small increases in consumption over the last month.”