Reports Sees Gains in British Linear TV Viewing

LONDON: The average TV viewer in the U.K. spent 28 hours and 15 minutes per week watching live, linear TV in 2010, an increase of 2 hours and 4 minutes on 2009.

The data, from the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB) and released by Thinkbox, reflect an all-time high in TV viewing, translating to 4 hours and 2 minutes of linear viewing a day. Thinkbox says the gains are driven by the take-up of new TV technologies, on-demand TV services—which have led people back to linear TV—and both the economic and weather climates. Thinkbox believes that live TV viewing has reached its peak.

The commercial channels (non-BBC) took in 63 percent of the linear TV viewing; the average person last year 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 decade, commercial TV viewing  has increased by 1 hour, 41 minutes a week (14 minutes a day).

Non-live, timeshifted viewing accounted for 7.6 percent of British TV consumption last year.

Thinkbox also notes an increase in the number of TV ads viewed. The number of ads watched at normal speed during 2010 was up 5.9 percent on the previous year. The average viewer watched 46 ads a day during 2010 compared to 43 ads in 2009.

“The TV landscape is changing dramatically," said Tess Alps, Thinkbox’s CEO. "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.”