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Survey finds “TV has never been this good”

TV has never been this good and it's hard to keep up -but word of mouth is our best form of discovery.

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Compared to the rest of the world, Australian TV viewers consider Word of Mouth a better way to discover new shows than channel surfing.

We also watch full length shows on DVR / PVRs, Video on Demand and Torrent sites more than other countries.

For Kids, viewing content on Tablets is higher than in other countries.

But we’re all agreed: TV has never been this good -and it’s hard to keep up.

These are the results of the TV Re[Defined] survey, conducted by Viacom International Media Networks (Nickelodeon channels).

VIMN spoke to over 10,500 respondents aged 6-34 and looked at 26,866 of their “viewing occasions” across 14 countries – Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Russia, Germany, UK, Italy, Poland, Netherlands and Sweden.

The study explores how viewers are redefining their relationship with television, how people watch television, how they discover content and how their habits around television are evolving.

“In a short span of time, content has become available anytime and anywhere, opening up endless opportunities for viewing. Both rapidly and radically, we have seen TV redefined. In the midst of all this change, TV Re[Defined] shows that– more television is being consumed now than ever before. What is needed is a redefinition of our understanding of television,” said Christian Kurz, VP Research, Insights and Reporting, VIMN.

Australia vs Global Statistics
Australians love TV and are social and tech savvy consumers of television content.
The majority of respondents agree “TV has never been this good.”
Global: 63%
Australia: 68%

The majority of respondents agree “There are so many great TV shows coming out, it’s difficult to keep up with them.”
Global: 72%
Australia: 72%
Kids Global: 77%
Kids AU: 72%

Linear TV is the “go-to” source and it remains the reference to discover and watch TV programs
Start sessions with linear TV (inc DVR)
Global: 69% / Australia: 64%

The majority of respondents agree “I enjoy watching regular TV because I don’t have to think too hard about what to watch, I just come across great shows on channels I love.”
Global: 70% / Australia: 73%

Television has become THE go-to conversation topic.
3 in 5 Australian children are talking about TV more than they did a few years ago; internationally, 4 in 5 are likely to agree with this statement.
Kids are also talking about TV shows they love more often that a few years ago.
Kids Global: 82%
Kids AU: 72% (second lowest country)

Globally, channel surfing is the #1 method for discovering new TV shows.
However in Australia, word-of-mouth is the most likely method for both kids 6 – 12 and viewers 6 – 34.

But making TV content available on multiple devices is important.
The majority of respondents agree, “Having more ways of accessing TV shows helps me try more shows.”
Global: 70%
Australia: 77%
Australian viewers 6 – 34 use an average of 7 devices, one more than the global average.
Australian kids own and use an average of 6 devices, more than the global average of 5.2, and they use them at an earlier age.

Tablets play a special role with kids, particularly in Australia amongst the younger demographics. Australian kids are nearly twice as likely to own a tablet vs. the global average. They are almost twice as likely to own a video game console (75%/61%). This is in line with AUS kids owning more devices on average (6 devices vs. 5.2 globally). They are however 1.5 times less likely to own a smartphone. (54% vs. 63%).

Kids Tablet Ownership
Global: 64%
Australia: 75%

Kids know on which source they can find the TV shows they want to watch.
Kids Global: 89%
Kids AU: 87%

Australia skews higher than the global average when examining sources used.
Kids in Australia are 2.5 times more likely to source TV content from linear and DVR sources (defined as a “traditional TV viewer”) than the global average.
85% of Australian viewers 6-34 watch TV content via their providers VOD services.

When asked, “How often, if at all, do you watch full length TV shows via each of these?”
DVR: Global 54%, Australia 89%
TV provider VOD: Global 58%, Australia 85%
Channel app/website: Global 72%, Australia 80%
Subscription VOD: Global 49%, Australia 70%
Direct to own: Global 47%, Australia 69%
Torrent sites: Global 47%, Australia 65%

13 Responses

  1. I agree that there has never been such a choice of excellent content available for viewing, its certainly not being screened on FTA commercial broadcast TV but if you look online, on streaming sites, on pay tv and in DVD box sets then I would say that the audience has never had such a wide variety of content available. Meanwhile free to air commercial tv sinks to irrelevancy and becomes commercial FM radio reality product placement with pictures. (ABC and SBS excepted)

  2. The word ‘television’ is slowly becoming something of an anachronism when used to describe content rather than the device. Will we ever just start describing all this ‘stuff we watch’ as video, I wonder?

    1. I’d say that the term is so entrenched that people will prob still refer to it as “television / TV”. A bit like how 1’s and 0’s on a hard drive of a bank’s computer are still called “money”.

  3. I would certainly have to disagree about some aspects of this. It is very rare in a workplace for example to hear of pepole watching a common tv show. because there are more channels now and different ways of viewing, you don’t hear so many conversations about what happened on your favorite show last night as there was say ten or more years ago.

    1. I think that would be because the quality of free to air tv has declined considerably. Also people aren’t going to stay up to watch a particular drama post 9pm or put up erratic start times. The free to air networks in particular 7, 9, 10 have ruined free to air and the ratings system in this country is inconsistent and can be easily manipulated. Free to air has a toothless watchdog and sadly can only see free to air television decline into irrelevancy.

  5. I’m not sure about some of your reckonings:

    “They are almost twice as likely to own a video game console (75%/61%).”

    75% is twice 61%? What?

    And how can anyone be “1.5 times less likely to own a smartphone. (54% vs. 63%).”?

  6. The survey makes it clear that “TV” refers to television programs however they might be accessed and I would agree that it prob has never been as good as now. However, if the meaning is restricted to Aus FTA, then it’s prob never been worse if you’re not into 2 hours of manufactured and padded reality a night.

    I recognise that the survey didn’t seek the opinions of viewers 35+ and is not about the unique BS that our commercial networks pull.

  7. “Torrent sites: Global 47%, Australia 65%”.
    I’m in my 70s and can say that I have never seen TV so bad. Take a look at some old TV schedules such as at televisionau.com/classic-tv-guides/tv010586
    The average age of those surveyed was 14. Of course they would all say “TV has never been this good.” – they’ve never seen or researched TV prior to 2005.

    1. Not a survey on Australian scheduling.

      Granted that link has some classics, but if you really think Miami Vice and Silver Spoons are better than shows like Fargo, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Sherlock, Homeland, The Returned, Mr. Robot then not much point me arguing. Aren’t these why the torrent sites are high?

  8. The survey is for 6-34 year olds. For someone in the older age group I would say that free to air TV has never been so bad. It is dominated by reality shows which are all the same and quite boring. They are constructed using fake dramatics. There has been a huge loss of true drama and high quality comedy. Actors and writers can’t make a living with the dominance of reality shows. Thank heavens for quality British dramas and some ABC/SBS dramas. We need more of these.

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