For this very reason, DTT audience figure of the previous year worries, and a lot. Basically, because in the last 30 years, Digital Terrestrial Television has never been seen so little in our country. A piece of information that allows us to see the situation that free-to-air television is going through in Spain.
The critical situation of DTT
The great acceptance of streaming platforms by users in Spain, and throughout the world, puts DTT in our country in a somewhat critical situation. More than anything, because Netflix, HBO Max, Disney +, among other options, have taken over a large part of the people who spent hours and hours in their homes glued to the television screen to be the classic channels of the free television.
This has led to the fact that, during the past year, that is, in 2022, the audience figure of Digital Terrestrial Television has been the lowest in the last 30 years. A plummet if we take into account that DTT was born in 1956 in our country. Therefore, this record represents the lowest figure in the last three decades.
In recent years we have already been warning you that DTT is not only seen less and less, but also less money is coming in. And, it seems, nothing indicates that the situation will change in the future. In addition, it must be taken into account that even large corporations, such as Atresmedia or RTVE they have their own on-demand content service like RTVE Play or A3Player. Therefore, with these data it is made very clear that consumption habits among the Spanish population have changed.
The average viewing, now in Spain, is 3 hours and 10 minutes per person per day. If in 2021 we already saw how it had also suffered a significant drop in audience. In 2022, the situation has gotten much worse. The most watched channels were Antena 3 (13.9%), Telecinco (12.3%) and La 1 (9.1%).
DTT problems
the low audience figure brings to light once again the problems of Digital Terrestrial Television in our country. Not only because of the fact that the quality is still very poor, as we have been seeing in recent years (SD quality).
And it is that, the renewal of DTT is urgent. Nevertheless, until February 14, 2024, it will not be required by law that each and every television channel be viewed in high definition (HD). So, as we told you, we still find options in standard format (SD). And we are no longer talking about channels in 4K quality.
In addition to this, Digital Terrestrial Television has had to face not only the well-known streaming platforms, but it has also had to compete against the world of the Internet: YouTube y Twitch. All these factors have caused this significant drop in audience.
