Less than 8pc of the ABC’s flagship news viewers are under 40
More than 80 per cent of the broadcast viewers for the ABC’s marquee news program, the 7pm bulletin, are over 55 years old – with a staggering two-thirds of viewers older than 65, internal data circulated to managers shows.
Less than 8 per cent of viewers for the bulletin are under 40, the figures obtained by The Australian Financial Review show. It is this information that has caused concern among the broadcaster’s executive, with one senior manager describing the audience as “the grey-BC”.
ABC director of news, analysis and investigations Justin Stevens (left) with managing director David Anderson at Senate estimates. Alex Ellinghausen
Executives, led by the ABC’s head of news and current affairs, Justin Stevens, have used an increasingly urgent need to pursue younger audiences as justification forcutting some positions at the broadcaster, including the contentious departure of political editor Andrew Probyn.
Documents obtained by the Financial Review detail viewership information for the 7pm news bulletin across one week in late June, and for the broadcaster’s two prominent news panel programs, Q&A and Insiders.
The ABC is not alone among broadcasters to see audiences age. Young people have been turning away from television for more than a decade as viewership shifts to streaming platforms like Netflix and to YouTube.
To counteract this, broadcasters have been investing heavily in their own streaming platforms and building channels on YouTube and TikTok. However, even including viewership on the ABC’s iView video-on-demand service, the organisation’s audience numbers for Q&A and Insiders tell a familiar story – more than 70 per cent of the viewers are over 55.
In a statement, an ABC spokesman conceded that broadcast
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