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Brits fear missing out on TV

February 12, 2014

DowntonAbbeyResearch from Freesat has revealed that over a third of Brits admit choosing to stay in to watch their favourite programme rather than go out. This new TV trend and social phenomenon has been coined – FOMOOT (Fear Of Missing Out On Telly).

With the average Brit watching over 4 hours of live TV a day, those afflicted by FOMOOT, a term coined by Freesat and an update to the well-known term FOMO (fear of missing out), will stay in to watch that favourite programme, even if that means missing out on an important event or commitment.

Research by the subscription-free satellite TV provider, found that Brits are going to extreme lengths as a result of FOMOOT, with nearly a third of Brits (31 per cent) admitting to missing a friend’s or family’s birthday celebration to watch their favourite programme, one in 10 have pulled a sickie to make sure they’re at home to catch the latest episode of a series and a sneaky 4 per cent also admit to watching their favourite programme at work. Seven per cent have even left a wedding or funeral early to catch a much-loved show.

More than one in 10 of us have fallen out with friends or family due to our TV watching habits, with that figure rising to one in five for 16-25 year olds. Bad reactions to missing a beloved show include sulking all night (12 per cent), blaming your partner (7 per cent), throwing the remote control 4 per cent) and even crying (2 per cent). Two per cent of us have even tried to lie about having seen a programme, just to keep up with conversation.

The top five programmes Brits don’t want to miss are:

  1. Sherlock (21 per cent)
  2. Doctor Who (17 per cent)
  3. Coronation Street (15 per cent)
  4. Downton Abbey (15 per cent)
  5. Mrs Brown’s Boys (13 per cent)

“We know that TV is important to the British public but we were surprised to see some of the lengths that we’ll go to, to avoid missing our favourite shows,” said Paul Gilshan, Marketing Director of Freesat.

Categories: Articles, Consumer Behaviour, Content, Research