For years it's been a global mega-trend few media companies could buck - people drawn away in droves from TV, radio and publications by unlimited digital stuff online.Much of it is fun and free stuff on the likes of YouTube, Facebook and TikTok, fed by billions of users. Fast-proliferating subscription video on demand (SVOD) services have also offered high-quality shows and movies to those prepared to pay a premium.The biggest survey of news consumption in the world - the Digital News Report 2026 - found social media and video platforms overtook media organisations' own channels this year as the most popular source of information.While a majority in all 48 countries watched online news video, consumption of video on publishers' own sites and apps fell by five per cent in a year.As well as the existing audience thinning out, local media face the prospect of following generations never coming to them in numbers. According to the UK's regulator Ofcom, less than a quarter of what 16 to 24 year-olds watch at home comes from broadcasters.It's not so different here."Young people get their news and entertainment from YouTube, Tiktok and Instagram - not Stuff, the Herald and RNZ. Young people thought locally-made content was cringe . . . but a lot of the time, young people didn't know it even existed," The Detail reported in 2023 just after NZ On Air released research on the media habits of 15-24 year-olds.NZ On Air's bi-annual surveys of people over 15 -Where are the Audiences? - have also tracked the declining reach of established home-grown media here.Empire strikes back?Theo David as Vili in Shortland Street.Supplied / South Pacific PicturesBut two years ago, WATA? 2024 had better news for local media."The year-on-year growth of global media platform audiences in New Zealand appears to be slowing - while the decline for local platforms may be stabilising," NZ On Air said at the time."We are still engaging with local [media] despite the fact that we are moving more to global and digital," Glasshouse media's Amanda Wisnewski told Mediawatch at the time.The just-released WATA? 2026 report shows the empire striking back again. The new surveyor Verian concluded "established and emerging platforms increasingly coexist rather than replace one another".TV broadcasters reached more New Zealanders each day - live and on-demand - than global video platforms, according to the survey of 1700 people in April and May 2026.Radio is still strong in the mornings, with more people going online and streaming later in the day - and there's an uptick in TV broadcasts in the traditional evening peaktimes too.News articles (either online or hardcopy) reached over half of New Zealanders.Fewer of us shelling out for Netflix, Spotify and the restLocal media - and free platforms - may be benefitting from the cost of living cutting the appeal of streaming services offering premium content for a price.NZ On Air 'Where are the Audiences 2026' surveyNetflix surged after it finally arrived in New Zealand in 2014. By 2020, the WATA? survey found 40 percent of Kiwis using it.But WATA? 2024 found Netflix used by only 38 percent of us - and fewer New Zealanders paying for SVOD across the board - while 60 percent watched New Zealand TV channels in 2024 for an average of three-and-a-half hours a day, either live or on-demand.This year, that's up again to 63 percent, and more than one-in-three people surveyed used New Zealand-based broadcast video on-demand (BVOD) such as TVNZ+, ThreeNow and SkyGo daily.The cost-of-living crisis and rising subscription fees have accelerated SVOD's retreat.Netflix daily use has dropped to 32 percent. Spotify use is at 27 percent in 2026, down 8 percent since 2024.This year's survey found 62 percent using global video-sharing platforms daily, with 15-39 year-olds, Māori, Pacific and Asian people heavier than average users.YouTube now reaches more than half of New Zealanders daily (52 percent), but so does TVNZ (53 per cent) and it is well ahead of other sources of online viewing, and the biggest social platform Facebook.Four years ago, the survey found almost two out of three people aged 40-59 were using YouTube, and over-60s were going online at record rates too.Local content in the media mixEncouraging numbers for local content in NZ on Air's latest 'Where are the Audiences?' survey.suppliedNZ On Air will be heartened by the survey finding local content is widely seen as high quality and that people who have watched local shows recently value them more."Most New Zealanders believe NZ music matches international quality, while many also see NZ shows as comparable to overseas content. Both NZ music and NZ shows are strongly associated with national pride," says Verian in WATA? 2026."I suspect more and more New Zealanders see our broadcasters as safe havens - delivering familiar fare and greater relevance with local programming," New Zealand Herald editor turned media researcher Dr Gavin Ellis wrote this week.He believed WATA? 2026 showed local broadcasters "back on top" in a fragmented market, and also highlighted better results for local content."Almost half of the sample recently watched a New Zealand-made show. The ratio was even higher among people aged over 60. Almost two-thirds of those surveyed thought local quality was as good as overseas content and 71 per cent said that content made them "a little prouder to be a New Zealander".But the picture is different when you break the population down, as NZ on Air did with separate survey reports on younger people, Māori (PDF), Pacific (PDF, and Asian New Zealanders (PDF).These found the global platforms still sit at the centre of young people's media habits.Māori use most of the same platforms as the wider population, but Netflix is bigger for them - and Facebook use is up there with YouTube.The platforms Pacific audiences use "most reflect a digital-first and social media ecosystem", the survey concluded. And the likes of YouTube, Instagram and TikTok dominated Asian New Zealanders' daily media habits - and captured more of their time than any other media activity.These parts of our population are also among the fastest-growing, so can local media keep on clawing back overall attention as recorded in the national surveys?Dilemma for NZ On AirCameron Harland of NZ on AirCopyright 2013WATA? 2026 also raises questions for NZ On Air. Are people getting the local content they fund, given the ever-increasing range of outlets New Zealanders use? And do they like what they find?The survey found two-thirds of people can find NZ content easily, though more people said they find out about them via social media - and fewer are alerted by promos on TV."I think we're seeing free and paid, local and global, traditional and digital media coexisting rather than simply replacing one another," NZ On Air chief executive Cameron Harland told Mediawatch.While the reach of Netflix and Spotify was down, the people who are paying for it were using it more. People were also spending more time listening to podcasts, radio and music streaming."That's probably one of the fundamental findings from the research. There's not a lot of new customers finding their way into different places, but those that are engaging are engaging for longer - pretty much across the board."Are local and free platforms getting the benefit of the rising cost-of-living?"I suspect that there is a little bit of that. I think a little more about if I need to have all of these streaming platforms at the same time. But we're moving into a more sophisticated viewing environment in the way that people are engaging with the many options available."If the economy improves, could that flip back? People may start spending on offshore platforms' subscriptions again, undermining the domestic media outlets NZ On Air needs to air the content it funds."Possibly. But you could say that our local platforms are doing a good job. TVNZ+ is a fantastic streaming platform. ThreeNow is the same.""They're investing massively in their streaming infrastructure, and the content. The FIFA World Cup went well for TVNZ, but it's also a great opportunity for them to get (more) viewers to the platform and they can cross-promote other content."Will this change what NZ On Air spends our money on?"There's a couple of examples in recent years where we have made some tangible changes based upon the findings that we've seen from the research," Harland told Mediawatch.One is the 2023 youth content strategy Within My Reach (PDF), which states bluntly: "Our research has highlighted that 15 - 24-year-olds have largely disengaged from traditional media platforms, such as television, and are increasingly turning to social media and international streaming services as their primary sources of content."NZ On Air also funded a recent series about social media mental health aimed at younger people - Under the Influence.In the past it would have been a TV documentary made for TVNZ or TV3's weekday peaktime. But UTI was broken up into 15-minute episodes on the New Zealand Herald website and also posted on YouTube where it was more likely to reach younger people."Those youth-orientated pieces of work need to be where they are. We have a strategy that does allow for that content to go digital-first sort of into social media and also hoping that there might be secondary plays into TVNZ or 3Now or other places."But if local linear and on-demand TV is edging out the share of the global video sharing platforms, will NZ On Air go back to the future and spend more big money on more productions for television?"We are definitely not shying away from putting serious investment into primetime shows. That kind of the peak-time TV content is still very much kind of supported by us and delivering significant audiences," said Harland."That youth content going into YouTube and the global video players is still a relatively modest level of funding that we're putting in."For decades, Shortland Street was funded by TVNZ itself from advertising revenue the show attracted in TVNZ2 at 7pm on weekdays.Now $2.3 million a year goes into the production - described by NZ on Air as a 'life-saving injection' - and it also qualifies for the Screen Production Rebate."On one level it's frustrating that we're having to fund something that we didn't need to fund previously," Cameron Harland told Mediawatch."But that is also just simply the nature of the commercial environment the broadcasters exist within. The audience for that show is actually significant and relatively young, which are those that are quite hard to find."Ms. X - funded by NZ on Air - starring Australian actor Melissa George.supplied$8m was recently devoted to four scripted projects, including Ms. X (on Three right now, starring Australian actor Melissa George) and the return of local comedy Wellington Paranormal.Reality shows Celebrity Treasure Island and The Traitors - both versions of proven hit international franchises - are funded by NZ On Air too."I think most people are acknowledging that it is a tough media environment for these platforms to fund this content themselves. We feel like we have data on our side. We really understand whether audiences are engaging in this content or not - and the fact that they are is really important."To a certain extent, our life is about tension. We have a requirement to fund content for a number of different audiences that are listed in our Act."Most of our content is still being funded into New Zealand-owned broadcast platforms - by some significant margin. The local platforms are by far and away the best place for the content to sit because they are doing a really good job in promoting it in the really fragmented media landscape that we now operate in."Partnership with platformsAFP / NurPhoto / Samuel BoivinNZ On Air raised eyebrows in the media when it partnered with Netflix on a programme - Toi Atea - to fast-track people into screen production.Netflix carries few local productions and rarely invests in any. Aren't domestic broadcasters better placed to train and employ people here?"What you're also hearing, no doubt, is people saying Netflix is not engaging in commissioning local content. Let's get them around the table and have some good conversations about what's going on."Netflix have put money into this programme. In turn we are selecting local productions for people to work on - and that the money is paying for those people to engage in that."The local productions are . . . for the most part . . . shows that are going to be playing into local platforms. Netflix have just come along and said they are keen to support us financially in this."We'd be more than happy for TVNZ or Sky/Three or RNZ to support us financially in this as well."We are always keen to understand how these platforms might better engage with the local marketplace where we haven't really seen them lean into commissioning content - and ensure that they are a part of the ecosystem alongside our other local operators."