New and Digital Media #15

TV viewing figures show Brits prefer traditional sets over smartphones

Average viewer watched three hours and 55 minutes of TV a day in 2013, but only three minutes on mobile devices, figures reveal. Predictions of the death of living room TVs continue to be wide of the mark with 98.5% of average daily viewing done via traditional sets.It appears it will be some time before the explosion in smartphones andtablet computers revolutionises TV viewing, with the average Briton watching little more than three minutes a day on mobile devices last year, according to industry figures.

The average UK viewer watched a total of three hours and 55 minutes of TV a day last year.This was a nine minute year-on-year drop, due in part to a comparison with the hugely popular London 2012 Olympics the previous year.The figures show that predictions of the death of the living room TV continue to be well wide of the mark with 98.5% of average daily viewing – three hours and 52 minutes of the total – done via the traditional set.Mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops accounted for an average of just three minutes 30 seconds a day, 1.5% of the total, which equates to just over three half-hour TV shows a month. This is up 30 seconds a day on average compared with 2012.

"New screens are making TV even more convenient for viewers and creating new opportunities for advertisers. But, the more we learn, the clearer it becomes that the TV set will remain our favourite way to watch TV – especially as on-demand services become more available on the best screen." When programmes and shows are on most people are unable to view it due to them having a busy schedule such as going work and busy with other activities. Therefore, on the mobile and laptops the most popular type of watching was on-demand and catch up programming on services such as the BBC, iPlayer, ITV player, Sky Go and 40D- with only a few live TV. Thinkbox believes the rise of internet-connected TV sets could limit growth in viewing on "non-TV set devices" – such as tablets – as more households are able to access on-demand services via their main television set.

The proportion of television watched live at home continued to fall, from 89.9% of all viewing in 2012 to 88.7% last year, reflecting the growth in popularity of digital television recorders such as Sky+, Freeview+ and Tivo on Virgin Media.