Brits Notch Up Record Viewing Figures

LONDON: British viewers watched more than 26 hours of TV a week and viewed an average of 42 advertisements each day in 2008, according to research for Thinkbox and ratings agency BARB. 

These record viewing figures for 2008 were up by 48 minutes a week compared with 2007. Top performers were variety competitions such as Britain’s Got Talent and The X Factor. Thinkbox said that downloads were also popular, with 78 percent of online TV viewing—on the BBC’s iPlayer, the ITV Player and Channel 4’s 4oD—coming as viewers caught up with programs from the main terrestrial networks.

"These figures show that people rely on channels and schedules to help them find the TV they want to watch," Thinkbox’s CEO, Tess Alps, said. "The broadcast audience may not always be watching the same program at the same time as it did when there were only a handful of channels…but viewers haven’t gone anywhere."