Broadcaster Alliances Tout Power of TV

BRUSSELS: Marking World Television Day today, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the Association of Commercial Television in Europe (ACT) and egta, the association of television and radio sales houses, are touting the continued strength of the medium across the globe.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the UN-backed World Television Day initiative. The EBU, ACT and egta have produced a 30-second video illustrating the impact of television on European society that is being shown by broadcasters across the globe today. The video highlights that 600,000 people in Europe help create the TV programs that reach 610 million viewers across the continent. Viewers, who watch for an average of 3.55 hours every day, access 60,000 hours of entertainment daily on Europe’s 5,463 TV channels.

Other data released by the three organizations found that in Europe, nearly 9 out of every 10 minutes viewed is spent watching TV. Live TV accounts for 63 percent of viewing time, recorded TV 16 percent, followed by free and paid on-demand with 6 percent each.

“Eighty nine percent of European citizens watch TV every week,” said Ingrid Deltenre, the director general of the EBU. “Its reach and impact are incredible. Public service television reaches 60 percent of European citizens every week and accounts for 20 percent of all TV viewing. These broadcasters play an indispensable role in the functioning of democracies and contribute to the cohesion of society. Despite the many choices consumers now have, television remains the dominant medium with more and more of us watching across all platforms.”

Magnus Brooke, chairman of the ACT Board, noted, “Commercial broadcasters drive investment in the production of high quality original European TV content. From news and documentaries through to drama, children’s programming and family entertainment, our goal is to produce groundbreaking content to push the boundaries of creativity, originality and the very best entertainment has to offer. High-quality original content that speaks to our viewers and their lives in each Member State of the EU lies at the heart of everything we do.”

“TV has impressively broken its historical linear chains, its one-way signal and its living-room constraints,” said Jan Isenbart, the president of egta. “Today’s global media sphere is mainly a video sphere; and within this video sphere, it is the daily professional content from TV stations all over the planet that we dedicate by far the biggest chunk of our screen time to. In fact, almost any digital device is also a TV screen today—or will be soon! TV’s reach, impact and effectiveness thus remain unchallenged, be it for information, entertainment or commercial communication.”