Viewer behaviour is understandably lagging behind the latest developments in TV technology, writes Julian Clover.
At every trade show we are presented with the latest devices and in the pages of Broadband TV News you can read of the second screen experiences that you can immerse yourself in.
But when it comes down to it viewing of linear TV channels remains at an all time high. In 2011 the average TV viewer watched a total of 4 hours, 2 minutes of linear TV per day. This I regard as worrying, if only from the standpoint that I’m not watching anything close to that, so many are watching more to bring us the average.
Moreover, 90.6% of all linear TV viewing is watched live, leaving 9.4% that is recorded, a testament to the shows from last Easter still sitting unwatched on my PVR.
In households that own PVRs, 84.7% was watched live and 15.3% viewed time-shifted within seven days. This level of time-shifting has been stable since the first PVRs were released ten years ago.
These figures, released by Thinkbox from data from the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB), show that there is not going to be a change in viewer habits any time soon. A reminder, as if we needed one, that the audience remains a few years behind what is found on PowerPoints and in the exhibition halls around Europe.
Based on the Barb Establishment Survey (Q3 2011), 97% of people are now in digital TV homes, just as well with digital switchover taking place later in the year.
Thinkbox also quotes Decipher research that suggests 89% of people watch on demand TV to catch up or keep up with broadcast TV they may have missed.
Arguably, it is the job of Thinkbox to remind advertisers of the benefits of linear, particularly commercial, television and when the top rated show on Christmas Day falls below ten million viewers for the first time then you know that the sands are beginning to shift.
But it is just the beginning and what we will see over the next 12 months is whether or not people are actually using the second screen, either as a means to plan or watch their TV, or as a way of keeping track of how many end up as zombies at the end of The Walking Dead.
