Only 1.5% of viewing not via TV set

Just 1.5% of TV viewing is done on other screens, such as tablets, smartphones and laptops, with the remaining 98.5% still done on traditional sets according to new research by Thinkbox – the marketing body for commercial television in the UK.

The research said that during the first six months of the year, viewers in the UK spent an average of four hours and one minute per-day, per-person, watching TV.

This broke down to three hours and 58 minutes per day of linear TV viewing on a TV set, versus only three minutes and 30 seconds a day of on-demand and live viewing of services like the BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD and Sky Go from other devices.

Thinkbox said the 1.5% figure was a slight increase on the full-year figure for 2012, when vewing on non-TV set devices accounted for 1.2%. “However, balancing this growth is the increasing availability of on-demand services to TV sets, which could eventually limit viewing on other devices,” according to the research.

“With the spread of internet-connected TV sets, Thinkbox expects that some on-demand viewing, which currently takes place off the TVset, will move to the TV set, as that is the screen people prefer to watch TV on,” it said.

Using BARB’s measurement system, Thinkbox added that among the estimated 58% of UK households that own digital TV recorders 83.8 % of linear TV was still watched live, compared to 84.4% in the first half of last year. It added that 81% of all time shifted viewing is watched within two days of recording.

“BARB’s figures suggest that the growth in the amount of TV that is recorded and played back is slowing down. Ofcom also stated this in its recent Communications Market Report 2013. Once all households have the ability to digitally record TV programmes, Thinkbox expects the average level of recorded and playback TV viewing to settle at around 15-20% of total linear viewing, as it has in those households that do currently own DTRs,” said Thinkbox.