Even those who have worked in TV for decades never thought that they would see the day that TV viewing broke through the 4 hours a day mark. But that’s what happened in 2010. More TV viewing has also meant more commercial TV viewing and more TV ads seen than ever before.

According to figures from the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB), the average TV viewer watched 28 hours, 15 minutes of linear TV a week in 2010, the first time the daily average has broken through the 4 hour mark since records began. This was an increase of 2 hours, 4 minutes a week on 2009.

BARB’s figures show that commercial TV channels (i.e. non-BBC channels) accounted for 63% of all linear TV viewing. During 2010, the average person watched 17 hours, 41 minutes of linear, commercial TV a week, an increase of 1 hour, 4 minutes a week on 2009. In the last ten years, commercial TV viewing alone has increased by 1 hour, 41 minutes a week.

In terms of the demographics that are most sought after by advertisers on Record commercial viewing commercial channels, ABC1 adults watched 14 hours, 37 minutes a week (2 hours, 5 minutes a day), up by 19 minutes; 16-34 year olds watched 14 hours 48 minutes a week (2 hours, 7 minutes a day), up by 4 minutes; and men watched 17 hours, 19 minutes a week (2 hours, 28 minutes a day), up by 59 minutes.

Reasons behind the continued growth in TV viewing include:

• An updated TV measurement system, launched in January 2010, more accurately capturing second set viewing and some on-demand TV;
• Greater choice of TV to watch as more households switch to digital TV (93%, according to Ofcom Digital Progress Report Q3 2010);
• New TV technologies (such as HD and digital TV recorders) enhancing the TV experience and magnetising viewers to TV sets;
• On-demand TV services which send people back to the broadcast schedules. 89% of people watch on-demand TV mainly to catch- or keep-up with missed broadcast TV;
• Excellent TV programming and a wide variety of channels which cater for most tastes;
• The economic recession and bad weather encouraging people to stay in more.

TV’s record-breaking year: 4 hours a day in 2010

But let’s not get greedy. We think that these record figures probably represent the peak for linear TV viewing; it is unrealistic to expect linear viewing to continue to grow indefinitely. Also, with digital switchover approaching completion in 2012 one of the fuels for the recent growth in viewing will disappear. Longer-term, on-demand is coming to the TV set (see p.20) and when everyone has on-demand TV fully integrated into their TV sets, it is reasonable to think it may impact on linear viewing. That will lead to more TV viewing overall and the desire to watch TV live won’t diminish, but more of it is likely to be on-demand.

‘Time-shifted’ viewing
According to BARB, non-live, recorded and ‘time-shifted’ viewing accounted for 7.6% of the UK’s TV consumption during TV’s record-breaking year: 4 hours a day in 2010 2010. In households that own digital television recorders, such as Sky+ or Freeview+, time-shifting represented a larger proportion of TV viewing (14%). This figure has declined from 16% only two years ago. Reasons for this could be a combination of DTRs now spreading beyond early adopters, who tend to use technology more, and the effects of social media which are creating a ‘drive to live’; if you want to take part in online conversations about TV it’s best to watch live. The higher representation of Virgin+ and Freeview+ homes (who tend to watch less time-shifted TV than Sky+ homes) within the DTR universe is also a factor.

Commercial impacts
The increase in commercial viewing has also meant an increase in the number of TV ads viewed. Commercial impacts (the number of ads watched at normal speed) during 2010 were up 5.9% on 2009, and have grown by 21.1% over the last five years to a new record high. The average viewer watched 46 ads a day during 2010 compared to 43 ads in 2009.