Ofcom: UK TV viewing hits almost four hours a day

The UK enjoyed the highest average increase in TV watching in Europe during 2008, up by 3.2% to 3.8 hours a day, according to a new report from Ofcom.

This was higher than the average (3.5 hours per day) across the European countries surveyed, but still slightly less than viewers in Italy, Poland and Spain. US viewers consumed the most television in 2008, watching on average 4.6 hours a day, up 1.8 per cent from 2007.

Overall, the report found that the UK is one of the leading digitaly advanced nations in the world, despite lagging behind other nations in terms of broadband speed.

Consumers in the UK text more than any other country except the USA, said Ofcom. The UK had the second highest volume of outgoing text messages among the 11 nations compared in the report, at 83 billion in 2008, second only to the USA at 830 billion.

The UK also leads the way in internet advertising, with the internet accounting for nearly a quarter  -23% – of total advertising spend, according to data from Warc. In 2008 the UK had the highest absolute growth in internet ad spend of all the countries Ofcom looked at (four percentage points).

Ed Richards, Ofcom chief executive, said “The report shows that UK consumers have benefited from competition in the form of lower prices. Innovation means that the UK is well placed in the take up and availability of digital services.”