British consumers demand 'TV freedom' in 2008

More than a third of British consumers (37%) are now regularly watching on demand content, twice as many as last year (17%), according to the annual Tiscali TV Trends report.

The Tiscali TV Trends Report 2008 reveals that 86% of those watching on-demand TV are watching at least as much, if not more TV than a year ago.

With almost two thirds of British consumers (64%) saying traditional TV schedules restrict their viewing too much, it is clear that a lack of choice, frustration at the restrictions of rigid TV schedules and technical innovations in the more flexible delivery of television, are behind viewers turning off traditional channels and networks.

The main reasons given for abandoning the TV schedules are to catch up with what they’ve missed (58%), overcome schedule clashes (39%) and just to make their TV viewing more flexible (49%).

According to the Tiscali TV Trends Report 2008, the main barrier to widespread adoption of on-demand TV is a perception that it is too expensive (57%), while 31% just didn’t know they could do it. These barriers are likely to see significant erosion, with both the proliferation and marketing of more flexible on-demand TV and the availability of new and affordable entry price points from providers like Tiscali offering TV, broadband, voice and line rental packages starting from £17.99 a month.

Although many new web TV services have been launched in 2007 (BBC iPlayer, ITV.com, 4oD and Joost), viewers still prefer to watch on-demand programmes properly on their TV. In fact, 62% of those viewing on-demand content are doing so on their television set, while the remaining 38% are watching via their PC.

The figures are similar when it comes to movies - given the opportunity two thirds (65%) of British consumers would prefer to download a film to their television set on-demand rather than rent from a video store. This drops to 56% if the option was to download to watch on their PC.

More than three quarters (79%) of British consumers predict that there will be no TV schedules by 2018 and we will instead be able to always watch what we want, when we want to but the use of technical terms to describe on-demand TV continues to be an obstacle and a year on only 14% understand the technical term IPTV.

Londoners are leading in the use of on-demand TV with 26% saying they use it daily and 29% weekly. On-demand viewers are also typically younger – almost half (45%) of 16-34 year olds have viewed on-demand content compared with just 22% of over 55’s.

Men are most likely to switch to on-demand TV in order to view movies (49%) and sports (26%) while women are most likely to sign up for soaps (46%) and comedy shows (51%). Comedy is also set to be most popular among 16-24 year olds compared with the over 55s who remain film-buffs.

Finally, the report alarmingly highlights that a third (31%) of British consumers are not ready for the digital switchover or don’t know if they are ready. The age group most at risk is the over 55s.

Tiscali, which launched its Tiscali TV service nationally in September 2007, commissioned the research as part of its continuing national TV rollout in 2008.

Neal McCleave, managing director of media services for Tiscali UK comments, "There is a growing demand among the British population for flexibility in their media consumption. As broadcasters worry about the fragmentation of the media audience, they need to look to on-demand television which is proving itself capable of retaining audience share and growing viewing times."

McCleave adds, "Tiscali TV has been developed for consumers who want more choice and flexibility than Freeview, but don’t see the value in paying over the odds for satellite or cable services. Our national roll-out continues at a pace and we are looking forward to providing British consumers with the freedom they are crying out for."

The survey commissioned by Tiscali was conducted by MRA-accredited independent research specialist Tickbox in December 2007 polling a representative sample of 1,760 adults in the UK.