Figures from Childwise show under 5s now watch TV for two and a half hours a day.
New data on preschoolers’ TV viewing habits has revealed that under 5s are spending more time watching TV – and that over half use on-demand services such as iPlayer and Netflix.
The Childwise Monitor Preschool report shows that preschoolers now watch around two and a half hours of TV a day – about 12 minutes extra now compared to 2012.
Using on-demand services – such as Sky, Virgin TV, iPlayer, Netflix and YouTube – to access their favourite shows has also become mainstream, with 53% of 0-4 years accessing them this way (up from 35% in 2012).
Despite this, CBeebies continues to dominate TV viewing in the preschool age group – four out of five watch the channel.
Peppa Pig is the favourite programme, closely followed by In the Night Garden and Mr Tumble.
“The recent rise in TV viewing among preschool children is consistent with the growth in portable devices and greater access to on-demand services,” said Childwise’s Jenny Ehren.
A total of 42% of children aged 0-4 use devices – up from 27% in the last survey in 2012.
