TV Will Be Route To Interactive Services, Says Henley Centre

A new study by consumer research group, the Henley Centre, has found that the television, rather than the PC, will be the most popular route to accessing interactive services in the future. Henley Centre claims that people associate the television with quality, leisure time and the internet with work. For this reason, and the fact that PC ownership is expected to top out at 50% of UK homes, people will turn to TV for interactive services.

The Henley Centre report points to an increasingly ‘time-poor’ society, in which people want to free up more time for leisure activities. The study shows that users find using interactive television services faster and easier to navigate than using the internet. Added to this, people seem to view using the television as part of their leisure time. The Centre says that the idea of sitting on the sofa to do the weekly shopping after work is very appealing to people.

The provision of free set-top box hardware for digital television services will also be key in increasing the format’s popularity over PC for interactive transactional services, says the Henley Centre. If these services are provided for free, the proposition becomes more attractive still for consumers, as internet access still often has an associated cost of being online.

The Henley Centre report forecasts that: “The PC will not become the dominant route by which British customers access online services.”

These findings come as the UK’s first full interactive TV service launch is launched on Sky Digital by Open (see Interactive TV Launches In The UK). Digital terrestrial broadcaster, ONdigital, is planning to start the role-out its interactive services, including internet access, before the end of this year (see ONdigital Announces TV Internet Plans).

The Henley Centre: 0171 353 9961