TV viewing breaks record at 4 hours a day in 2010
Live, linear UK TV viewing figures for 2010 were the highest since records began, increasing by more than two hours a week, according to Thinkbox.
The average TV viewer watched 28 hours, 15 minutes of live, linear TV a week (4 hours, 2 minutes a day) in 2010. This is an increase of 2 hours, 4 minutes a week (18 minutes a day) on 2009 and represents an all time high in TV viewing, new figures from BARB show.
Commercial TV channels accounted for 63% of all live, linear TV viewing. During 2010, the average person watched 17 hours, 41 minutes (2 hours, 32 minutes a day) of linear, commercial TV channels a week.
This is an increase of 1 hour, 4 minutes a week (9 minutes a day) on 2009. In the last ten years, commercial TV viewing alone has increased by 1 hour, 41 minutes a week (14 minutes a day).
The increase in commercial viewing has also meant an increase in the number of TV ads viewed. Commercial impacts (the number of ads watched at normal speed) during 2010 were up 5.9% on 2009, and have grown by 21.1% over the last five years to a new record high. The average viewer watched 46 ads a day during 2010 compared to 43 ads in 2009.
The increase in live, linear TV viewing follows a pattern set in recent years. Reasons behind the continued growth in TV viewing include:
- An updated TV measurement system, launched in January 2010, which more accurately captures viewing of second TV sets and on-demand TV
- Greater choice of TV to watch as more households switch to digital TV (93%, according to Ofcom Digital Progress Report Q3 2010)
- New TV technologies (such as digital TV recorders) that enhance the TV experience and magnetise viewers to TV sets
- On-demand TV services which send people back to the broadcast schedules. 89% of people watch on-demand TV mainly to catch-up or keep-up with missed broadcast TV
- Excellent TV programming and a wide variety of channels
- The economic recession encouraging people to stay in more
- Bad weather conditions at the beginning and end of 2010
According to BARB, non-live, ‘time-shifted’ viewing accounted for 7.6% of the UK’s TV consumption during 2010. In households that own digital television recorders (DTRs), such as Sky+ or Freeview+, time-shifting represented a larger proportion of TV viewing (14%). This figure has declined from 16% only two years ago.
Reasons for this could be a combination of DTRs now spreading beyond early adopters, who tend to use technology more, and the effects of social media, which are encouraging people to watch TV as it is broadcast. The higher share of the DTR universe among Virgin and Freeview homes (who tend to watch less time-shifted TV than Sky+ homes) is also a factor.
Tess Alps, Thinkbox’s CEO, said: “The TV landscape is changing dramatically. But whatever technology is over the horizon, we are confident that people’s love of TV will remain. Far from threatening TV viewing, almost every new media development – from search and social media to connected TV sets – is boosting TV advertising’s effectiveness.”