500 channels and we still sit through adverts

Published on Wednesday 23 December 2009 21:41

TELEVISION viewers now have to sit through almost a third more adverts than they did a decade ago, even though the amount of time spent in front of the box remains almost unchanged in that time.

According to a report on the changes in viewing habits over the past decade, compiled by the industry body Thinkbox, the number of adverts watched by people on a daily basis has risen from 33 to 43.

It claims that advertising on TV still gets seen, despite the advent of Sky+ and other recorders which make it easier to fast-forward past the commercials after pausing live TV.

The number of channels available on UK sets has almost doubled to nearly 500 since the turn of the century, but the average viewer is only watching an extra three minutes a day.

The report says that biggest change has been the simple mushrooming of choice.

At the beginning of the year 2000, fewer than a third of homes had multi-channel television which gave them up to 295 channels to choose from.

Now more than 90 per cent of households have multi-channel TV, from Freeview to Sky to Virgin Media, with up to 495 channels on offer.

However, this does not mean people are glued to their sets more than ever, or that they even have more televisions in the first place, the group said.

The average home still has 1.9 television sets, no different from ten years ago, although people can now watch TV on their computers or mobiles phones.

Yet over ten years the average amount of viewing has risen by a paltry three minutes to 3.72 hours a day.

Thinkbox, the television marketing body for the main UK commercial broadcasters, said the figures showed that the BBC was the main loser in the drop, as commercial television accounted for a greater share now than it did a decade ago.

Commercial TV viewing has gone up by five minutes a day to 2.37 hours and its share of the audience is up from 62.1 per cent in 2000 to 63.6 per cent now.

Though this is a marginal rise, Thinkbox said that any increase at all is seen was a success by the industry; TV has not lost out to rival activities, such as the internet and video games.

Thinkbox compiled figures for the first ten years of this century to show how the nation's viewing habits had changed in that time.

Tess Alps, chief executive of Thinkbox, said changes in technology had freed up viewers' expectations and demands.

"The changes in the way we watch TV have been driven by human need liberated by technology," she said.

"The story of the TV decade is that new technologies have encouraged us to watch even more TV, because we have more choice and more control.

"The TV set has become a thing of beauty in our homes and there are no signs that we want to give it up. In fact, we want to watch more – and in new places – via online TV services."