Quarter of UK viewers ‘replacing linear TV with streaming’
A quarter of UK consumers have said they are watching less linear TV and instead choosing to stream or download more TV compared to last year, new research has found.
This is the highest share out of the sample panels in the report AudienceProject Insights 2022, which also found weekly linear TV viewers in the UK have dropped from 79% to 69% year-on-year.
This was the highest decrease out of surveyed countries, with Germany dropping several percentage points from 79% to 72%.
The same study asked about commercial TV viewing, perceived relevance of linear TV ads, perceived excess of linear TV ads, how many see themselves watching linear TV in five years’ time and streaming.
The number of consumers in the UK who watch commercial TV decreased from 73% in 2020 to 63% last year.
The perceived relevance of linear TV ads dropped more sharply in the UK in the same time period than in other countries surveyed, from 70% to 56%.
There was a marginal increase in the number of UK consumers who perceive linear TV ad frequency as “excessive” increasing from 86% in 2020 to 87% in 2021.
This increase was in line with other countries included in the study such as the US, Germany, and the Nordics.
The study also found only 47% of UK respondents see themselves watching linear TV in five years’ time, which is down from 58% in 2020.
Streaming consumption keeps increasing across the board and UK respondents had the highest share of streaming in the surveyed countries with 78% of the population streaming weekly.
A higher proportion of 15- to 55-year-olds are streaming weekly compared to watching linear TV weekly, 84% versus 62%.
Just over a quarter, 26%, in the UK are “pure streamers” and do not watch linear TV, only beaten by the US with 30%.
Martyn Bentley, commercial director, UK at the AudienceProject said in the report: “Though we see differences in the development of linear TV viewing across countries, the overall trend is that TV consumption is moving from linear TV to streaming, showing that TV advertising outside linear TV holds great potential for advertisers.”
He added in all countries but Finland, the “commercially attractive audience” of 15- 55-year-olds prefer streaming over linear TV and, in most countries, less than half of that group see themselves watching linear in five years’ time.
Bentley highlighted linear TV’s ability to build reach but also the opportunities in CTV and addressable TV campaigns to build audience and combat fatigue with ad irrelevance.
The study’s data was collected through online surveys carried out in Q4 2021 with respondents selected and weighted from US, UK, German and Nordic panels to represent 7,000+ respondents.