TV Still Britain’s Go-To Device For Programme Viewing

The latest UK viewing figures from Thinkbox, the marketing body for commercial TV in the UK, showed that the TV set remains the primary device for watching programmes despite the growing share of consumers using various mobile devices for TV viewing.

The data, collected by the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB), shows that 98.5% of local TV viewers remained true to the TV set in 2013, while the remaining 1.5% watched TV on non-TV set screens, such as smart-phones and tablets. The share of those choosing these devices was slightly higher than the 1.2% registered the previous year, but on average they were used for just three minutes and 30 seconds a day compared to the three hours and 52 minutes that consumers typically spent watching shows on a TV set in 24 hours.

The average daily amount spent watching linear TV was lower than in 2012, when it was measured at four hours and one minute, but it was still eight minutes longer when compared to ten years ago, Thinkbox noted.

One particularly interesting fact from the report, that may spark the interest of advertisers, is that 68% of linear viewing on a TV set was commercial TV – a rise from 66% in 2012. The proportion of people watching commercial TV was highest among those aged 16-34, where it accounted for 76% of linear viewing.

Commercial impacts, or the number of TV adverts viewed at a normal speed, were 1.6% higher than in 2012, producing a growth rate of 10.4% over the past five years. Overall, the UK audience watched an average of 47 adverts a day, or four commercials more than five years ago.