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Live TV viewing drops, playback increases.

Australians are watching plenty of TV content, but the way they are viewing it is evolving.

2014-12-19_0014Australians are watching plenty of television content, but the way they are viewing it continues to evolve.

The latest Australian Multi-Screen Report, issued by OzTAM, RegionalTAM and Nielsen, indicates Australians watched an average of 96 hours and 58 minutes per month of broadcast television (including free-to-air and subscription channels) in Q3 2014, down from 97 hours and 3 minutes in Q2. In late 2012 that figure was 99 hours and 9 minutes.

However more Australians are shifting away from Live viewing.

91.6% of all in-home TV viewing in Q3 2014 was Live, down 0.2% on Q2 2014. In mid 2013 the figure was 93%.

Playback (or timeshifted) viewing is also on the increase now at 8.4%, up by 0.2% on Q2. In mid 2013 the figure was 7%.

Internet-capable TVs are also on the rise now in 29% of homes, up from 22% a year ago. 45% of homes have tablets, up from 42% in Q2 2014 and 37 per cent a year ago.

74% of Australians aged 16+ own a smartphone, compared to 67 per cent in Q3 2013.

A special survey* also found accessing TV networks’ catch-up TV websites and apps are more common on tablets than on smartphones – both via websites and apps:

20 percent of tablet users aged 14+ claim to have visited a catch-up TV website, and 15 percent to have used a catch-up TV app, on their tablets over the course of a month.
8 per cent of smartphone users aged 14+ claim to have visited a catch-up TV website, and 5 per cent to have used a catch-up TV app, using their smartphones over the course of a month.

OzTAM CEO Doug Peiffer said: “For all the changes and new options viewers have, television is still the centrepiece. Live TV viewing is level year-on-year, playback is up by nearly an hour, and people are spending more time with their television sets overall, because TVs are more versatile than ever.

“On top of their TV viewing time, Australians increasingly use their televisions to play games, watch DVDs or internet-delivered video, browse the internet, or playback TV content they’ve recorded beyond seven days from original broadcast. Such activities underscore the strength of TV and reinforce its position as the household main screen.”

Summary of key findings:

• Australians watch on average 96 hours and 58 minutes (96:58) of broadcast TV on traditional television sets per month – up 1:07 per month year-on-year (YOY).
• 91.6% of all broadcast TV viewing is live, with playback of broadcast content that viewers record and play back through their TV sets within seven days accounting for 8.4% (8:08 per month, up 58 minutes/month YOY).
• 100% of Australian television homes can access digital terrestrial television (DTT) channels. 95% can do so on every working household TV set.
• 55% of homes have PVRs; 15% have two or more (Q3 2013: 53%; 14%).
• Household internet penetration is stable at 80%.
• Australians spend on average 37:44 per month online.
• 29% of homes have internet-capable TVs, whether connected or not (Q3 2013: 22%).
• 45% of homes have tablets (37% in Q3 2013).
Across the online population aged 16+, people claim to spend an average 1:47 per month using tablets to watch any online video – which can include both broadcast television and non-broadcast material.
• 74% of Australians aged 16+ own a smartphone (67% in Q3 2013) and self-report an average 1:56 per month4 viewing any video on these devices.
• 13.377 million Australians watch some video on the Internet each month (including broadcast TV and non-broadcast content): an average of 7:30 per month.
Such viewing is highest among people aged 18-24 (9:09/per month).
• 89.6% of all video viewing – across all screens, and including broadcast and non- broadcast content – is on the traditional TV set.

* 1,800 people aged 14+ living in households with access to one or more internet-connected mobile devices.

15 Responses

  1. the ads on foxtel are getting annoying 6minutes mixed in with promos of other shows. plus them infomercials they chuck in. i watch more pay tv then commercial tv. commercial tv is over run by to much news and reality shows these days.

  2. No sweat, our household watches nothing live, we have our own timeslots for everything, not beholden to TV timeslots, years in the making, sport all day Sat and Sun, Mon to Fri couple of hours, usually the next day. FF the boring bits, interviews reruns of sixes hit, wickets taken, catches all the extra’s rubbish, seen it all once, that’s enough, game is over in no time, NRL is quicker than that 80 minutes condensed to 30/40 mins. and oh, our own crowd sound effects, no commentary. Yippee.

    Newton’s Third Law: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction

  3. Time shifting is fantastic. I’m finding it especially useful in these Big Bash cricket matches. I start to watch them on an hour or so delay and fast forward every time there is an ad or a stop in play. By the end of the match I’ve almost caught up and it’s very close to being live anyway.

  4. I question the 91.6% figure of all TV viewing as being live, simply not believable. Unless they selected a survey sample population that does not own any PVR’s IQ boxes, Apple TV, Chromecast devices, T-Boxes or use catch-up internet services. I suspect any households that use these devices heavily were excluded from the survey. Look whom commissioned the survey and consider what drives their business model.

  5. Selective use of statistics! Out of 2 million TV watching households with no children under 15, only 1800 people have a mobile device that can connect to the Internet? There are 6 of them in my home with 2 using WiFi! (45% of homes have tablets, most with WiFi.)

    Without the hourly figures these results are almost meaningless. I would suggest that the “Prime Time” figures would show a different story. 2% more PVR’s with only a 1.07% increase in viewing?

    What is an “Australian Television Home”? 100% of them can access digital terrestrial TV? The ABC should cancel their satellite channels!

    It is the silly season!

  6. Those figures are averages. Non-live viewing is not spread evenly across type of show or demographics.

    By timeshifting an episode you can save 5-20min waiting for it to start and 20 min of ads, promos and newsbreaks. The result is less revenue for the networks and less scripted shows in prime-time.

    Nine didn’t even bother to try The Flash, letting it premiere on Fox8. In the US, Forever doubles its 18-49 numbers when the +7s are counted. Then there are the catch-ups and people who will watch it on Hulu or when it goes up on Netflix. It remains to be seen if that will get it renewed. Nine are going to try it and Stalker, but they will likely go the same way as The Following, Arrow and POI end up on late at night or in summer.

  7. Our household and a lot of others started this process with the first Beta VCR, it’s not new and as new technologies arrive they made the process easier. What we can do now with a 42min with 6×4 minute ads is mind boggling and with a 3+tb HDD + 3 backup HDD’s it can be years before a current tv ep is seen. As an example we are watching Series 5 of Castle.We always, always watth the first ep of any series before taking it onboard

  8. Start the programs on time in 2015 the numbers will swing back. Every episode of Gotham that aired on 9 recently, I swear started had a different start time from week to week

  9. @ J BAr: I time shift everything too and watch it at my convenience.
    If it is a US show then waiting another day if we are 3 months behind is no issue. If it is a Locally made show, then I might watch it on a 1/2 delay, or the next day!

  10. Well why wouldn’t you record and playback everything since the free to air networks are notoriously bad at keeping to their schedules. I just timeshift everything now and skip all their adverts. Win win.

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