Covid-TV: Routes to content during Covid-19

Routes to Content addresses the industrial and regulatory challenges faced by the contemporary television industry with the rise of internet-connected and on-demand viewing. The research analysed how people discover and decide what television to watch. Over the summer of 2019 we undertook in-depth semi-structured interviews with 30 participants in their own homes, where they were asked to describe and show us how they found television content to watch. In May 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, we returned to these same participants to see how Covid-19 had affected their television viewing. We found a significant shift in behaviour as on-demand viewing had become more widespread and habitual. Our report examines why this has happened and what the long-term implications might be. It includes recommendations for broadcasters and regulators.