A survey carried out by YouGov revealed that one in four Britons favours on demand services – including online services like BBC iPlayer and YouTube – over linear TV. The behaviour is even more pronounced in people aged 18 – 24 years; 41% of whom say the majority of the TV they watch is now on demand, while the number decreases with age, down to 14% of people aged 55 or older.
Amongst people who own connected TVs, just over one in three (35%) say the majority of their TV viewing is on-demand. This is also the case for over half (53%) of 18-24 year olds with a Smart TV and half (51%) of Smart TV owners with pre-school children.
Dan Brilot, YouGov’s Media Consulting Director, said “These figures show that we are perhaps entering into a paradigm shift in the way that we consume Television – “TV 2.0.” Whilst we know (from industry sources such as BARB) that linear TV is still growing, alongside this we are observing a huge growth in on-demand consumption. TV 2.0 is all about consumers, rather than schedulers, deciding what to watch and when.”
Improved Advertising
With 14% of UK households set to own one in the next year, connected TVs are having a big impact on both programme and advertising viewing. Although four in ten (39%)
people say they are watching more “on-demand” TV than they were a year ago, this increases dramatically to over one half (53%) of Smart TV owners. This also extends to TV advertising; only 14% of people say they pay attention to ads on TV but this doubles to 29% amongst 18-24 year old Smart TV owners.
“TV 2.0 isn’t just about better programming choices but also more effective and targeted advertising too. The appeal of clickable ads, for example, is clear – almost a fifth of consumers want to be able to click on TV ads to find out more about the products they are interested in. This desire for a ‘call to action’ relevant to them is ideal for advertisers, particularly if the call to action is making an instant purchase using their TV set and offers a measurable clickable return on advertising investment, ” added Brilot.
Samsung Rising
Sony looks like it could be overtaken by Samsung as the manufacturer of choice for Smart TV owners. Amongst Smart TV owners, over one third (36%) have a Sony, followed by Samsung (33%) then Panasonic (16%). However, almost two-thirds (62%) of people planning to purchase one in the next 12 months are considering Samsung
followed by Sony (48%) and Panasonic (40%).
Brilot concludes, “Sony is seen as the quality or premium brand favoured by manyearly tech adopters – late twenty- or thirty-something men – but Samsung is the brand
working the hardest and most successfully to bring Smart TV to the masses through its advertising campaigns as well as leading the way in the availability of apps on the
sets.”
