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Less than 8pc of the ABC’s flagship news viewers are under 40

Mark Di StefanoReporter

UpdatedJul 16, 2023 – 5.38pm,first published at3.52pm

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KEY POINTS

• Why it matters: Younger viewers are no longer tuning into flagship ABC programs
• More than 80 per cent of the ABC’s audience for the 7pm bulletin is over 55
• Recent contentious job cuts are about making sure ABC becomes “digital first”

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 byThe Australian Financial Reviewshow. 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 positionsat the broadcaster, including the contentious departure of political editor Andrew Probyn.

Documents obtained by theFinancial Reviewdetail viewership information for the 7pm news bulletin across one week in late June, and for the broadcaster’s two prominent news panel programs,Q&AandInsiders.

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 forQ&AandInsiderstell a familiar story – more than 70 per cent of the viewers are over 55.

In a statement, an ABC spokesman conceded that broadcast news audiences were greater among older demographics and declining for younger ages, but said it was part of an industry-wide issue.

“This is not unique to the ABC, but is a trend for all news channels,” he said. “The audience for news on digital platforms is younger and has grown strongly in recent years. The ABC is the second-highest digital news service in Australia and reaches significant numbers of young Australians.”

Documents leaked during the redundancy round last month – which also included scrapping state-based Sunday night news bulletins in favour of a national version and reintroducingStatelineas a weekly “digital first” product – show that the ABC is attempting to position itself as a broadcaster where “most of its audience engagement” comes through digital products.

But that rationale for making the broadcaster’s political editor redundant caused uproar among staff. Mr Stevens said the ABC’s Parliament House bureau had “an outdated, top-heavy structure still largely focused on linear television broadcast”.

“This proposal would realign resources within CPH to strengthen its digital and social story production and distribution, enabling ABC News to reach audiences we currently underserve – young people, women and people in the outer suburbs,” he wrote in documents circulated among staff at the time of the redundancies in June.

The data seen by this masthead shows how few young people tune in. On June 26, more than 902,000 viewers cumulatively watched the ABC’s state-by-state bulletin. Of them, those aged 18 to 24 and 25 to 39 made up 1 per cent and 5 per cent of the broadcast audience respectively.

The ABC’s political editor, Andrew Probyn, was made redundant as part of proposed job cuts last month. Alex Ellinghausen

It also shows the core audience for blue-ribbon shows broadly reflecting the demographics of the news bulletins. The David Speers-hostedInsiderspulls an average audience – across both linear TV and iView – split 70 per cent over 55 and 30 per cent under 55.

ForQ&A,currently without a permanent host, 75 per cent of the average audience was over 55.

“Huge resources are still poured into pulling together a 7pm bulletin and, until recently, it was considered the most important platform,” said one senior ABC manager, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak publicly.

“Thankfully that’s changed.” They noted that reporters often turn television news into digital stories to run online, assist with Instagram and TikTok videos.

Therefore, a story can reach well beyond the TV audience. Mr Stevens claimed recently that “this year the ABC’s digital audience reach is expected to surpass each of our broadcast TV reach and our radio reach for the first time”. However, reach, which can be tallied with online clicks, impressions or brief views on Instagram and TikTok, can be a nebulous metric.

It certainly would not be the first time the ABC needed to grapple with its mandate to serve all Australians.

In 1975, the public broadcaster, with a mandate from the Whitlam government, set up youth radio station 2JJ (later Triple J). Former 2JJ presenter Gayle Austin later wrote that staff had been told “the ABC was worried about its audience dying off and wanted a station for young people who would grow up to be ABC listeners”.