Live TV Still Dominant in Australia, On Demand Rising in Popularity

June 12, 2015 World Screen Top Stories

SYDNEY: The latest Australian Multi-Screen Report from Regional TAM, OzTAM and Nielsen finds that the amount of time consumers in Australia spend viewing live TV has been decreasing gradually over the last five years, while playback through the TV set continues to increase.

In Q1 2015, Australians watched an average 89 hours and 28 minutes (89:28) of broadcast television (free- and pay-TV channels) on in-home television sets each month, down from 93:16 in Q1 2014. Even though the proportion of time spent viewing TV live has dropped and on-demand viewing has increased, 91.6 percent of all broadcast TV viewed on television sets in Australia is still watched at the time of original broadcast. Playback of broadcast content through the TV set within seven days of original broadcast accounts for 8.4 percent, at 7:31 per month, which is up by 16 minutes per month compared to a year ago. 

Australians' use of connected mobile devices to watch video is increasing, but still remains relatively small; 11.6 percent of all video viewing (both broadcast and non-broadcast content) happens on screens other than the TV.

The report also finds that 100 percent of Australian television homes can access digital terrestrial television (DTT) channels; 96 percent can do so on every working household TV set. In terms of PVRs, 56 percent of homes have them, and 15 percent have two or more. 

Deborah Wright, Regional TAM's chair and NBN Television CEO, commented: “The review of playback viewing beyond seven days that is featured within this latest Multi-Screen Report shows us that more Australians are viewing broadcast television content outside the seven-day window compared to previous years. Regional Australian households continue to consume more ‘live’ television than the national average but they have also shown growth year on year in the 8- to 28-day playback segment.”

OzTAM CEO Doug Peiffer added: “Australians now have a remarkable range of options for watching their favorite television programs. Overall, nine in ten people watch broadcast TV each week, averaging nearly three hours of ‘traditional’ TV viewing per day across the population. We continue to see Australians spend a little less time at the ‘full buffet’ of live linear television and a little more time viewing ‘a la carte,’ watching their favorite TV shows when they want. Also, there is an increase in time-shift viewing beyond seven days, as reported in this quarter. We’ll continue to keep an eye on this evolving behavior.”

Craig Johnson, the head of Nielsen’s reach solutions for Southeast Asia, North Asia and Pacific, commented: “People are continuing to evolve the way they consume media and are leveraging technology more, and in increasingly varied ways. The TV screen remains the core of this consumption and a key vehicle for advertisers to reach consumers. Playback continues to grow as does delayed viewing with an increase in 8 to 28 days, showing that people are more prepared than ever to watch content at their own convenience.”