Advanced Television

UK viewers watch 4 hours of TV per day

March 7, 2011

An ICM poll conducted for TV Licensing’s TeleScope report reveals adults in Britain think they watch an average of less than 20 hours of TV a week, or around three hours a day, but official statistics collected by the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB) show the true average in 2010 was more than 30 hours a week, or over four hours a day.

The statistics show that the older we are, the more TV we tend to watch, and the amount we watch is increasing: the BARB average for all ages (including children) is 28 hours a week, which is three hours more than in 2001, not including the TV we now watch on equipment other than our TV sets.

The report also showed people now have an average of 2.4 rooms with TVs in them, and by 2020, expect that to rise to three.

Other key statistics from the report include:

– Over 9.5 million TV sets were bought across the UK in 2010 – double the number sold in 2002. The most dramatic sales increase has been of flat screen TVs with screens 40″ or bigger, from fewer than 600,000 sales in 2006 to over 2 million in 2010, according to market specialists GfK Retail & Technology.
– We’re also buying far more flat screen TVs than our European neighbours: 43 million sets were sold in Britain between 2004 and 2010, compared to 28 million in Germany and 27 million in France.
– 125,000 of TVs sold in 2010 were 3D-enabled and, if the growth rate from the last three months continues, 3D TV sales are expected to reach around half a million in 2011.

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, Consumer Behaviour, Research