Advanced Television

Linear and on-demand grows

May 5, 2010

New figures show that people in the UK watched 30 hours of linear TV a week during the first quarter of 2010, an increase of 2 hours, 29 minutes on the same period last year with growth seen across every age group.

The figures from The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) and published in Thinkbox's Q1 Review, show that commercial broadcast TV viewing accounted for 61.46 per cent of total viewing in Q1. The average viewer watched 18 hours, 29 minutes of commercial TV a week in Q1, up by an hour on the same period last year.

The figures, which do not include TV viewed on devices other than TV sets, underline the continuing popularity of the linear TV schedule in the UK as on-demand TV services are increasingly available. Nonetheless 'time-shifted' viewing accounted for a total of 6.9 per cent of TV consumption in Q1. In households that have digital television recorders such as Sky+ or Freeview+, timeshifting represented 13.7 per cent. 80.2 per cent of timeshifted viewing took place within 7 days of the original broadcast; time-shifted and on-demand viewing that occurred after 7 days is not included in the BARB figures.

Categories: Broadcast, Research, Research Library, VOD