TV catch-up services fail to dent traditional viewing in the UK

Web video catch-up services such as the BBC iPlayer aren’t eating into traditional TV viewing despite their growing popularity, according to a report for ratings body BARB. Audiences watched an average of 2.34 hours of commercial broadcasts between January and June, up 4 per cent on last year. Meanwhile, commercial broadcasters are still looking for ways to generate revenues from these early web offerings.

Thinkbox, which conducted the research on behalf of BARB, says that both broadcast and online TV platforms are growing simultaneously underlining how they fulfill different needs for viewers and that they can co-exist and indeed promote each other.

Whilst online TV is only used by a fraction of the viewers that watch traditional broadcast TV, it’s clear that this is a growing market and can bring value to advertisers looking to reach niche audiences in the long term. However, advertisers face a big challenge in that they’ll need to find new, creative methods for capturing viewers’ attention via this relatively new medium.