UK’s Interest In Digital TV Dwindles, According To Mediaedge:cia Survey
Almost one third of the UK population is not interested in making the switch from analogue to digital television (DTV), according to a new Sensor survey from Mediaedge:cia.
UK Government analogue switch-off targets The survey’s results do not bode well for the UK Government’s plans for an essentially complete digital switch-over before the analogue signal is turned off.
The Government is hoping to achieve a 95% penetration of overall digital television by 2010, at which point it would cease broadcasting the analogue signal. BSkyB has already switched off its analogue broadcasts.
Older viewers resist The older demographic appear to be more resistant to a digital shift, according to the Sensor survey; 60% of over 65s say that they will not move over to DTV. This is particularly worrying for the Government, given that this group of people represents 12% of the population and an even higher proportion of households.
Organic growth slows The survey also found that there is a significant decrease in the proportion of people planning to go digital in the next twelve months – from 13% in the last study to just 9% this time. This, says Mediaedge:cia, indicates a dramatic slowdown in the organic growth of the UK’s multi-channel, digital TV market.
The survey also showed that only 44% are willing to pay for DTV access, compared with 61% in January 1999. The strongest decline has been among younger adults with 59% of 15-24 year olds and 46% of 25-34 year olds saying that they would not be prepared to pay for the service.
Digital programming is seen as less attractive than previously, again particularly in the younger age grouping. The percentage of 25-34 year olds agreeing that they expect DTV to provide a superior service with better programming dropping from 57% in February 2001 to 40% in this survey.
Commenting on the findings, David Fletcher, head of MediaLab at Mediaedge:cia UK, said: “Analogue switch-off is dependent on economic, logistic and political barriers being overcome and these findings suggest that on all three counts the task is getting harder.
“Multi-channel penetration levels in the UK are amongst the lowest in Europe, despite total TV viewing levels being amongst the highest. The multi-channel digital pay TV market appears to be reaching a saturation point. There’s an increasing shift in popular opinion that ‘old-fashioned TV’ is actually good quality and value for money and the initial intrigue in the promises of the new medium is turning to lethargy.
“With a large majority of 4/5 channel homes simply seeing no reason to pay for DTV access, these research findings have interesting repercussions for broadcasters and Government alike,” warns Fletcher.
Comment Even before ITV Digital began to teeter on the brink of collapse, customer churn – the proportion of people leaving the service – was fairly high at around 25%. This suggests that users’ experiences of the platform were at best mixed. BSkyB’s churn, by comparison, is around 10%.
The failure of ITV Digital, whilst on the surface tied to football rights payments owed to the Football League (see Football League Kicks Off Action Against ITV Digital Owners), is nevertheless essentially the result of lack of revenue at the business. Customers were not there in sufficient volume, churn was high and customer acquisition costs, through marketing and equipment subsidies, were high. The result is an non-viable business.
The eventual collapse of the ITV Digital and the failure to find a buyer to revive it were widely reported in the press. This will not have boosted the public’s perception of the strength of digital television and what it can offer.