45% of SVOD-only viewers still recall seeing TV ads

Traditional television and TV advertising is still alive and kicking – even among people that exclusively use subscription video-on-demand services (SVOD), new research from YouGov suggests.

According to the Broadcast to Narrowcast report, 45% of those who only access TV through SVOD providers still recall seeing TV ads they have watched over the past week, while 30% said they did not remember seeing any ads at all.

The report divides the viewing public up into specific groups based on how they access television content – including those who exclusively watch through SVOD, viewers who only access programmes and films through pay-TV providers (such as Sky and Virgin Media), and people who just use Freeview and Freesat.

Live commercial terrestrial television was also found to play a key role in people’s viewing habits – including those who only watch TV through SVOD services – with 48% having watched ITV 1 and 51% having watched Channel 4 through the channels’ apps in the past 30 days. 28% said they had watched Channel 5.

“People watch TV in different ways but it doesn’t necessarily follow that the number of people watching traditional television have fallen that much,” said Stephen Harmston, head of YouGov Reports.

“These broadcasters and their advertisers need to be realistic but not panicked about the challenge to them from subscription video on demand providers. While the likes of Now TV and Netflix inevitably siphon off some viewers some of the time, they are not taking most the traditional broadcasters’ viewers most of the time.”