People are bored of the sermons, the half-truths, and carefully filtered messages. Who wants to be told what to think?
The ABC lost nearly 4% of its audience last year. Australians are tuning out the $1.1 billion ABC public broadcaster, and it has nothing to do with the small 5% efficiency cuts. The fall in popularity occured before the cuts. The three commercial TV channels in Australia all did much better at maintaining their popularity — despite suffering larger cuts to their budgets.
The ABC share is down to 10.08 per cent of 16 – 54 year olds. Nearly 90% of working age Australians are paying for the ABC but not watching much. The losses in the over-55 age group, traditionally the ABC stronghold, were almost as large as the younger groups.
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Christine Milne leader of The Greens, at a rally outside Parliament House. Photo: Daily Telegraph.
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The Australian, last week: Older viewers abandon the ABC
THE ABC was the worst performing television broadcaster last year, losing 3.95 per cent of group audience across all the channels before the government announced budget cuts.
In a sign the public broadcaster has become out of touch with key groups, the ABC even suffered a 3.80 per cent audience decline in prime time for the uncontested older demographic of viewers aged over-55, which is largely shunned by the commercial networks.
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The figures from ratings body OzTAM show the ABC’s main channel suffered the largest drop in audience share of the main networks, falling from 11 per cent in 2013 to 10.08 per cent last year in the 16-54 age group.
The ABC as a whole lost audience at about twice the rate of the Seven, Nine and Ten networks, and about three times the rate against their main channels.