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THE CHANNEL
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OPINION
usage with TV viewing time per
viewer.
TVAND INTERNET – THE TRUE
PICTURE
For a more accurate picture, we can
draw on data from egta’s 2008
database of audience measurement.
This data is compiled by
independent, universally
recognised bodies and used by
advertisers and media buyers to
determine the level of their
investments.
Even the lowest European
average TV viewing time per
viewer, in Switzerland, is almost 25
hours per week, more than twice
the amount reported by Microsoft.
Comparative data from France puts
average viewing time at over 31
hours per week, the UK at over 34
hours per week and Germany at a
little over 35 hours per week. The
graph shows Microsoft’s data
alongside the nationally collected
TV audience figures.
TV
through
Internet is
an
important
growth
sector for
TV
“
s television becoming an
increasingly irrelevant
medium suffering falling
viewing figures? In April
2009, Microsoft published a
report entitled ‘Europe Logs
On’, in which it predicted
that Internet consumption in
Europe will outstrip traditional TV
in June 2009. The report, based in
part on research carried out by
Forrester, draws on claimed
behaviour of an online access panel
to conclude that average TV
viewing time currently stands at
11.5 hours per week, and that it will
remain at that level. It forecasts an
increase in Internet consumption to
14.2 hours per week in 2010 and
makes the bold claim that Internet
use in Europe will overtake TV
viewing in June 2010.
Convincing statements, one
might say, and the research was
widely reported in the trade and
mainstream press with little
reflection at the time. However, two
critical factors make this research
unsound and, as such, an unhelpful
and damaging contribution to the
debate on how the two media are
developing.
Firstly, claimed behaviour is an
inaccurate and unreliable method
of measuring media consumption
that consistently undervalues the
passive, relaxed pursuit of TV
viewing. By relying on an online
access panel, the results are
inherently skewed towards heavier
users of the Internet.
Secondly, online consumption
by Internet users cannot accurately
be compared with TV viewing per
individual; the ‘Internet usage’
sample population includes
Internet users only, whilst the ‘TV
viewers’ sample includes the entire
population, many of whom are
either too young to watch TV or do
not possess a set. Solid conclusions
can only be drawn by comparing
like with like, and for this it is
necessary to compare Internet
TELEVISIONANDONLINE:
Does Internet usage
threaten to push TV to
the adspend sidelines?
Or does the Internet
work as an effective
partner to TV, offering a
further dimension as
both platforms
continue to develop?
Matthew Carver
of
egta
, the trade
association of TV and
radio sales houses
throughout Europe,
makes the case for
synchronicity between
the two media
I
52
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ISSUE 2 2009
|
THE CHANNEL
MEDIAINSYNCHRONY