Big events, such as the Queen's funeral and England football matches, mean public service broadcasters ITV and BBC still dominate the charts when it comes to the most-watched programmes - but generally, viewers are turning to other sources of entertainment.
With more competition than ever from streamers, the proportion of people watching a programme on broadcast TV each week dropped from 83% in 2021 to 79% in 2022 - the biggest decline since records began, the watchdog said.
Younger viewers have long been turning to platforms such as Netflix and Apple, as well as social media sites such as YouTube and TikTok.
There was some good news for public service broadcasters, with the research showing they still dominate the UK's most-watched list thanks to big TV moments such as England's World Cup matches and the Queen's jubilee and funeral.
Only 48 programmes averaged more than four million TV viewers on streaming platforms in 2022, with Netflix accounting for the vast majority.
These declines are a reflection of fewer people watching the main early and late evening TV news bulletins, Ofcom said, as well as a "steady decline" in viewing figures for popular soaps such as Coronation Street, EastEnders and Emmerdale - with the number of episodes attracting four million viewers or more down 42% from 754 in 2014 to 438 in 2022.
Today's viewers are spoiled with an "all-you-can-eat" buffet of broadcasting and online content to choose from, said Yih-Choung Teh, Ofcom's group director for strategy and research.
Never in my adult life have I even considered browsing what's currently on TV. I only ever watch streaming services and youtube (and I use Plex heavily).
I'm also extremely put off by the extremely aggressive letters from the TV Licencing company, who try to frighten you into paying up. I've never needed a licence, yet they write to me every month threatening to send their non-existant van around. See the hilarious bbctvlicence.com for info on the TV Licence bullying. I also enjoy their back-and-forth about not writing below the line :D
The OCR thing is simply there because it's there from another stream of letters and the same template has been used.
I'm always tickled pink working in local governance to see how certain procedures and policies simply continue because someone said 'let's do it this way' and its stuck. Everyone is too busy dealing with the next thing, that the 'it's not broken, don't fix it' mantra prevails.
If you tell them you don't need a license they stop sending letters. I've never had this problem and I've not had a TV license at any time since I became an adult. I've only had to let them know when I've moved. No spam mail in ~15 years.
I'm not really bothered about the letters. I should not have to write to a private company to let them know I don't require their services. I don't need to write to Samsung letting them know I'm not going to buy their phone this year. TV Licencing is not the government, they are a private company harassing people into paying them.
100% of tv is just fricking ads, no thanks I'd like to watch my own content that I want to watch.
TV is just a thi g of the past and is barely holding on, the only reason TV and newspapers exist is old people, but time will tell