The New Cartography of Audiences
- Audiovisual attention has already been redistributed across platforms and formats: YouTube has surpassed the BBC in audience reach in the United Kingdom
- BARB data show that while digital platforms lead in reach using short viewing thresholds, traditional media retain an advantage in prolonged attention metrics.
- Short-form video has become the core of discovery and relevance, prompting long-form content platforms such as Netflix and global players like FIFA to recognize its role in capturing and retaining attention.
- Mexico requires comprehensive audience measurement to accurately assess the real migration of audiovisual consumption and to design strategies, advertising investments, and public policies aligned with the new cartography of attention.
Global audiovisual consumption is at a significant inflection point. Traditional audience measurement through linear media and channels is no longer sufficient to capture viewers’ real habits and preferences.
Evidence of this comes from statistics released by the UK audience measurement body BARB (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board), which show that in December 2025 YouTube reached 51.9 million people, surpassing the BBC’s 50.8 million, based on a metric of at least three minutes of viewing.
This figure is relevant not only because of the digital platform’s rise, but also because BARB integrates audiences across multiple devices (television, smartphones, tablets, and computers) to reflect the true reach of services in a multiplatform environment.
Screen Migration and New Audience Metrics
This multiscreen audience migration has also sparked debate over what should constitute a meaningful audience metric.
In this regard, the BBC has noted that if a stricter metric is used—such as a 15-minute continuous viewing threshold, which captures long-form content consumption—the results differ. Under this measurement, the BBC would reach 47 million viewers, compared with YouTube’s 40.8 million in the same period.
This difference highlights that absolute reach metrics (such as the three-minute threshold) favor platforms with high traffic volume or fragmented consumption, like YouTube, while higher thresholds emphasize engagement with long-form content traditionally associated with broadcasters such as the BBC.
BBC and YouTube: From Competitors to Allies
Beyond YouTube surpassing the BBC in certain reach metrics, the public broadcaster itself has acknowledged this paradigm shift. Recently, the BBC announced an agreement to produce and distribute content directly on YouTube, seeking to connect with younger and more fragmented audiences.
This agreement aims to attract audiences who have reduced their linear viewing and migrated toward more accessible and immediate digital content, recognizing that maintaining a presence on high-reach platforms is strategic for preserving relevance.
Short Videos: A New Form of Content Discovery
Short-form video consumption has become the way users explore, discover, and consume audiovisual content. YouTube Shorts reports more than two billion monthly active users, while TikTok accounts for a significant share of consumption in this format.
These patterns have even led long-form content platforms such as Netflix—with a potential reach exceeding one billion people—to integrate short videos into their interface to facilitate title discovery, adapt to more immediate consumption habits, and capture audience attention and retention.
The centrality of short video is not limited to general entertainment. A striking example is FIFA’s exclusivity agreement with TikTok for the distribution of FIFA World Cup content. This move recognizes that the world’s most widely followed sporting event generates conversation and relevance through clips of just a few seconds consumed on mobile devices.
Millions of views, interactions, and minutes of attention are not reflected in traditional ratings measurements, yet they concentrate advertising value, cultural influence, and engagement. This case clearly demonstrates the limitations of conventional metrics in capturing the true reach of content in the digital era.
Measuring Audiences Where the Eyes Really Are
Changes in consumption habits underscore the urgent need for audience measurement systems that encompass all digital platforms and content formats. Traditional methods, centered on linear television or subscription metrics, no longer capture the complexity of today’s audiovisual ecosystem.
The BARB model in the United Kingdom is one of the closest examples of such comprehensive measurement, as it integrates television and digital platform audiences, enabling more accurate measurement of attention migration.
Likewise, the comparison between three-minute and fifteen-minute metrics demonstrates how different attention thresholds can substantially alter data interpretation, especially when contrasting long-form content with short and fragmented formats.
Mexico: Comprehensive Measurement Still Pending
In Mexico, the absence of unified measurement integrating television, streaming platforms, and digital content limits understanding of how consumption preferences have evolved. Without comparable and cross-platform metrics, decisions on advertising investment, content production, and public policy rely on fragmented data that fail to capture audience habits.
Advancing toward a scheme similar to BARB’s would allow for more accurate assessment of audience migration, the real weight of short-form video, and the redistribution of value across the audiovisual chain. It is not merely about counting screens, platforms, and subscriptions, but about understanding where attention is concentrated.
YouTube surpassing the BBC in audience reach, Netflix adopting short-form video, and FIFA betting on TikTok all demonstrate that the cartography of audiences has already changed. Insisting on metrics designed for an environment that no longer exists means underestimating content’s real reach and losing visibility into where the market is heading.
For Mexico, the challenge is clear. Without comprehensive and modern measurement, we will continue analyzing the ecosystem with outdated maps. Adopting an integrated audience measurement system like BARB’s is not merely a suggestion, but a strategic necessity to understand where public attention truly lies and how content consumption is evolving in the digital age.
Source: CIU
Author: Radamés Camargo
Picture: Imagen de freepik