Catch-up services account for 78% of online TV viewing

29 January 2009 By Danielle Long

Massive growth in traffic to broadcasters' on-demand sites partly comes from new web users attracted by online catch-up

Some 78% of online TV viewing is by people looking to catch up on missed broadcast TV, according to research by TV body Thinkbox.

The survey for the TV marketing body, conducted by Work Research, found UK broadcasters' online TV services, such as the BBC iPlayer and 4oD, were seeing strong growth in user numbers as people looked to catch up on linear TV programmes.

In total 64% of people had watched TV or video content on a computer and 44% had accessed online TV content recently.

While 58% of those who watched TV online were people who use the internet at least once a day at home, broadcaster services were attracting people new to the internet.

Tess Alps, chief executive of Thinkbox, said,"These services from trusted brands are helping to persuade people who may have been reluctant to go online."

She said that while services such as ITV Player had seen significant growth, non-broadcaster sites such as Joost and Videojug had only received minimal users, with just 2-3% of people using them.

"There has been significant growth across all the online TV sites," said Alps. "The broadcasters are sizeable businesses and can run major marketing campaigns. Other players find it quite hard to get audiences." The research found BBC iPlayer was the most popular of the online TV services attracting 75% of viewers, followed by YouTube and ITV Player. Demand Five saw strong growth, overtaking Sky Player.

It also revealed that online TV viewers expect to receive advertising around content, with sponsorship and pre-roll ad formats gaining the highest recall at 53% and 34% respectively, well ahead of in-skin (14%) and live buys (5%).

The majority of online viewing is in the home, but watching at work and on mobile has doubled in the last six months to 6% and 10% respectively.

Alps said that while audiences welcome the convenience of viewing programmes online, they prefer to watch on TV, which is seen as more comfortable and sociable. She predicted there would be more IPTV services like the iPlayer and ITV Player on Virgin Media.

"While 2008 showed phenomenal growth for web-based TV services, it's still growing and I think it will be interesting to see where on-demand will end up," she said.

The online TV research coincides with further Thinkbox findings that reveal broadcast TV viewing i 2008 increased by nearly an hour a week.