Average TV viewing time in the UK decreased in 2017

Time spent per day watching TV dropped by nine minutes last year, reports Ofcom

Author:

Jenny PriestleyPublish date:

Aug 2, 2018

2017 saw a drop in the average time spent watching TV in the UK.

According to Ofcoms annual Communications Market report, nine in ten people watched TV every week in 2017, for an average of 3 hours 23 minutes a day, a nine minute dropped compared to 2016 and down across all age groups under the age of 65. Those aged 55+ accounted for more than half of all viewing in the UK.

In terms of broadcaster revenue, the report says 2017 saw a decrease of four per cent to £13.6 billion, driven by declining advertising revenue and proportion of the licence fee attributed to TV.

Meanwhile, Broadcasters spent £7.5 billion on content in 2017, due to higher spend on sports rights and production.

The report also revealed that programmes attracting an audience above eight million viewers have halved in the past three years.

The report looked at how the communications sector has changed in the past 10 years. It says that since the launch of the BBC iPlayer and the iPhone in 2007:

- Smartphones have become the most popular internet-connected device (78 per cent of UK adults use one)

- Ownership of tablets (58 per cent of UK households) and games consoles (44 per cent of UK adults) has plateaued in the last three years

- Smart TVs were in 42 per cent of households in 2017, up from 5 per cent in 2012

- Mobile phones and TVs are the only communications devices with near universal reach in the UK (96 per cent of households for phones, 95 per cent for TVs)

LINK:	https://www.tvbeurope.com/data-centre/average-tv-viewing-time-in-the-u...
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