Digital, Interactive and Web TV

Viewer Behaviour

In November 1999, Television Research Partnership conducted a survey into the viewing behaviour of UK television viewers. The survey included almost 5,000 households with both analogue and digital TV using a variety of platforms (satellite, cable and terrestrial). Some of the findings of its report (see External Resources below), of relevance to this SIM site, are reproduced here with the permission of TRP.

Notes:

The sample was 4,962 multi-channel TV homes, of which 15% were digital and the remained analogue. Of the digital homes, 82% were receiving Sky satellite and 18% ONdigital terrestrial. No digital cable homes were included as there were very few such homes at the time of the survey.
All regions were included except in the case of ONdigital terrestrial which was not represented in some regions. Similarly, cable hardly exists in some of the regions. Some regions were over represented.
Multi-channelled refers to homes that have access to more than the standard 5 free-to-air channels.
Managing Change comments are in italics

More channels is the main reason why households are subscribing to digital TV

33% gave this as their main reason. Interactivity is given in under 5% of households. This is reasonable given that the interactive services have only recently been available and have not been promoted. Until providers have experience, they are wary of not being able to handle transaction loads. See the graph for other reasons.
UK viewers now have access to 94 channels; 83 on Sky and 38 on ONdigital.

Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) will be crucial to influencing which channels viewers watch

With Sky, buttons on the handset take the viewer straight into the required EPG section, e.g. shopping or TV Listing Guide. With ONdigital, an EPG button on the handset takes viewers to a top-level menu showing the main sections. This menu also displays banner advertising inviting the viewer to jump straight to a EPG page within the shopping or programme listings section. ONdigital would seem best for advertisers.
Sky lists its channels by genre (e.g. sports) whereas ONdigital is a simple listing in numeric order. Both allow viewers to scroll through the channels or to enter a specific channel number. Sky allows viewers to book-mark their favourite channels. Sky would seem best for viewers.

Who uses the digital TV?

Men tend to use the multi-channel digital TV most, with women relegated to the other TV sets. Children watch most of their viewing in the lounge on the multi-channel digital TV rather than on their bedroom sets. Do men and children predominate because they feel better able to use the EPG? Is the EPG interface too much like using a PC - i.e. suited more to PC literate and left-brain people?
31% of homes with multi-channel TV just have the one TV set; 38% have two; 21% three; and 11% four or more. This suggests many homes acquire their multi-channel TV when their one and only TV is broken beyond repair.

Factual Programmes dominate and tend to be viewed alone.

Viewers with a multi-channel digital TV watch a high number of news and factual programmes than those with multi-channel analogue TVs. They also tend to watch them alone. Digital TVs do give access to many more minority and specialist programmes.
Household groups tend to watch movies. Maybe this is because many movies are viewed on a pay-per-view basis; or it may be because movie viewers want to recreate a cinema experience.

Multi-channel digital TV homes watch twice as many channels

Multi-channel digital TV homes watch on average 30 channels over the month, compared to 15 in homes with multi-channel analogue TVs. Digital TVs do provide a wider choice and the EPG would seem to encourage exploration of the various channels on offer.
In homes with digital satellite TV, 25-34 year olds and social groups C2, D and E watch more channels than other groups. However, in social group E, the 16-24 year olds watched an astonishing 48 channels during the month.

BBC and ITV still popular but multi-channel digital TV homes have more fragmented viewing

Homes with multi-channel digital TV watch ITV for about 21% of their time and the BBC1 for about 16% (it varied by platform). This compares to about 26% and 21% respectively for multi-channel analogue homes. Is this habit or because the main channel listings are printed in detail in the daily newspapers? Never-the-less, digital viewing has dropped significantly compared to analogue.
In multi-channel digital TV homes, the remainder of viewer's time is very fragmented across the other channels:
c5.7% on Channel 4, c5% on BBC2, with the other 90 channels receiving attention for under 1% and often a merge fraction of 1%. This is especially so for digital satellite which has far more choice than digital terrestrial. Unless the channel providers can provide high quality and in-depth data on the viewers who watch these minority channels, then any expenditure on advertising would appear to be wasted. In longer term advertisers will be able to target specific homes rather than channels - see Implications for the Advertising Industry.

Niche channels do better in multi-channel digital TV homes

Niche channels which are also available on analogue, are receiving more attention in multi-channel digital homes than in multi-channel analogue ones. Sometimes they are getting double the attention, all-be-it from a very low base. This is especially so for factual and lifestyle channels. This would suggest that the EPG is helping viewers to seek out these channels, or maybe these channels are promoted more on digital. Again, a continuation of this trend has great implications for advertisers, and if advertisers reduce their expenditure on TV advertising, also for providers.

Viewers in multi-channel digital TV homes switch channels more frequently

Whilst they may switch more often, viewers tend to remain within the same genre compared to multi-channel analogue viewers. Is this happening because Sky groups its channels by genre?
The report concludes that the channel position within the EPG is critical. Will (or do) providers charge more to position a channel at the top of the list?

Total viewing hours are only slightly up in multi-channel digital TV homes

Whilst the overall hours were only slightly up in in multi-channel digital TV homes, because the total number of channels watched was double, then the average hours spent on each channel was half compared to multi-channel analogue homes. Once again, this has great implications for advertisers and providers.

Back to Who are the target audience?

External Resources

D2K: Just Zeros and Ones - Report into Viewing Behaviour in Digital Homes, 1999, Television Research Partnership, 8 Lower Middle Street, Taunton, Devon, England. Tel.: +44 (0)1823 256930; email: tim-at-trponline.co.uk
Also see the full list of resources for this web site for other related resources.

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