Young people are shunning live TV and watching their favourite shows online, Ofcom revealed yesterday.

The broadcasting regulator said just half of all viewing among 16- to 24-year-olds is now through traditional scheduled TV.

The rest of the time, they prefer to stream shows via online services such as Netflix and Amazon, watch short video clips on YouTube or use catchup services such as the BBC iPlayer and All 4.

News programmes have been disproportionately affected by the trend towards online viewing. Between 2008 and 2014, TV news viewing hours by young people aged 16 to 34 dropped by 29%, Ofcom said.

On average, younger people now watch 39 minutes of TV news each week.

They are increasingly turning to non-traditional news outlets such as Vice Media, while 26% use Facebook for their news updates, 22% use Google and 14% use Twitter.

In its latest review of public service broadcasting, Ofcom said: “Consuming news online is becoming more commonplace.

“The trend towards online news consumption is even more pronounced for young people, with three-fifths accessing news online, nearly half (45%) considering the internet their most important source of news about the UK, and 50% citing the internet as their most important source for news about the world.

“Vice Media provide a range of news content in a style that is more appealing than traditional TV news to many young people.”

Launched in 1994 as a niche punk magazine, Vice has grown into a huge global multimedia conglomerate worth more than $2.5bn (£1.6bn).

It has won plaudits for its recent coverage of the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, rivalling traditional broadcasters such as the BBC.

Ofcom said that among all UK adults, 69% of all viewing is for live TV.

However, that share dropped to 61% for 25-34s and just 50% among 16-24s.

Ofcom said: “The key driver of future non-live growth is likely to come from video-on-demand services, accessible across multiple devices.”

The regulator said 16- to 24-year-olds are much more likely to have subscriptions to on-demand services such as Netflix and Amazon than older adults.

It added: “The emergence of new competitors such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, providing services directly over the internet, is giving consumers greater choice and making the landscape more competitive.”