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Multiscreen Report Q4 2016: More than just TV

Use of the TV for something other than Free to Air & Pay TV is rising.

The latest Multiscreen Report from Regional TAM, OzTAM and Nielsen indicates the TV is increasingly used for more than just Free to Air and Subscription TV.

Australians are spending an average of 30:56hrs a month using TVs for ‘Other use’ such as SVOD (Netflix, Stan, etc.), Gaming, DVDs, Internet and Timeshifted beyond 28 days. In 2015 it was 28:42hrs.

But Free to Air and Subscription TV consumption still dominate, if losing ground with each passing year.

Five years ago we watched an average of 113:38hrs of Broadcast TV (FTA and STV) per viewer per month (94:24hrs per person).

Now that figure is 81:18hrs per person within a 28 day period. Of that, 72:51hrs (89.6%) is Live, down from 93% in 2013.

Five years ago we averaged 12hrs per month of playback (recorded TV) through the TV set. The figure is now calculated separately, not as a total, at 6:51hrs (8.4%) within 7 days and another 1:35hrs (1.9%) within 28 days. 48 minutes of that is viewed in prime time.

Five years ago Australians also spent an average of 3:27hrs per month watching online videos on their PCs. Now that figure is 12:07hrs. Add to that another 2:46hrs on smartphones and 2:34hrs on tablets.

Today 37% of homes have internet-capable TVs, up from 32% a year ago. Our homes now have an average of 6.4 screens each, the majority of which are internet capable.

OzTAM CEO Doug Peiffer said: “This fifth anniversary Multi-Screen Report shows the viewing landscape continues to evolve. Many of the content, device and platform options that today allow viewers to access video anytime, anywhere were in their infancy when the report was first published. Amid unprecedented choice, the TV set remains the primary screen for most: Australians still spend a remarkable 2 hours and 39 minutes each on average per day watching live or playing back broadcast TV channel content on in-home sets – just half an hour less than they did six years ago.”

Regional TAM Chairman and General Manager, Prime Television, Tony Hogarth said: “The Multi-Screen Report once again highlights the strength of broadcast television. Regional television continues to consistently deliver time spent viewing results that are higher than the national average. Our regional audiences are spending just over 95 hours on average during a month watching broadcast television.”

Craig Johnson, Managing Director, Media, Nielsen, said: Since the report’s inception five years ago, many things have changed, but overall Australians are consuming more media content that ever.

“However, digging beneath the bonnet reveals that fragmentation of channels and devices is growing the ‘long tail’, meaning Australian audiences are increasingly taking control of their TV viewing, watching video content wherever and whenever they want, and on the device or screen of their choice.”

Multiscreen Report October – December 2016:

Taking an in-depth look at how Australians view on various screens1: • Time spent viewing broadcast TV on in-home sets only:

o Across the population 89.6 per cent [72 hours and 51 minutes (72:51)] of broadcast TV (free-to-air and subscription channels) is watched live-to-air each month.
o 8.4 per cent (6:51) is played back through the TV set within seven days.
o 1.9 per cent (1:35) is time-shifted between eight and 28 days of the original broadcast.

• Across all screens, devices and types of video among the population as a whole:
o 86.6 per cent of viewing (81:18) is broadcast TV content watched on in-home sets within 28 days of original transmission.
o 7.8 per cent of viewing is on PC/laptops. o 2.9 per cent is on smartphones.
o 2.7 per cent is on tablets.

Those figures are an average across the entire population in TV metered markets, and the online universe, and include everyone: heavy, light and non-viewers/users alike.

• Narrowing the focus to only those people who view TV or any kind of video on an in- home television set, PC/ laptop, smartphone or tablet:

While the number of people who watch any video on a tablet or smartphone is relatively small, among those who do, many are heavy viewers.

As the universes (population bases) are dramatically different it is not possible to apportion share of time spent viewing across devices using the viewer metric.

o Penetration levels for various device types are levelling off even as the number of screens in homes continues to grow. This is because people often upgrade a tablet or mobile phone and retain the older one for secondary use.
o 59% of homes have PVRs; 18% have two or more (Q4 2015: 58%; 17%).
o 37% of homes have internet-capable TVs, whether connected or not (Q4 2015: 32%)2. o 50% of homes have tablets (49% in Q4 2015).
o 84% of Australians aged 14+ own a smartphone (80% in Q4 2015)3.
o 100% of Australian television homes can access digital terrestrial television (DTT) channels. o 97% can do so on every household TV set.
o 96% can receive high definition (HD) DTT broadcasts on all TV sets in the home.
o Household internet penetration is stable at 80%.
o Active online Australians spend on average 69:15 per month online4.
O 13.742 million Australians watch some video on the internet each month (incl broadcast TV and non-broadcast content): on average 12:07 per viewer per month. Such viewing is highest among 25-34s (19:19 per month)

Updated.

12 Responses

  1. Well those who watch Netflix know that it is possible to have a reasonably priced streaming service without intrusive advertising. FTA is under threat, there’s no doubt about that. The business plans of internet based companies with Worldwide distribution and the financial capacity to spend billions will be the future of TV entertainment and likely saviour of the U.S.and overseas production studios too.

  2. Interesting that just 34% of households have internet-enabled TVs. It seems to be a bit of an urban myth that ‘everyone is streaming nowadays’.

  3. ATM I have 2 choices for viewing some content on FTA. I can watch a program over-the-air from Artarmon or over-the-air from an Internet router. Same program but one source doesn’t have ads, pop-ups or watermark. It’s my choice and either way the copyright holder gets a fee from the TV Network. Morals, ethics, scruples, Moi?

    1. That is exactly how I see things. If you’re bingeing a series, you can watch 3 eps in the same time as 2 on FTA, and without needing to press the skip button when irrelevant and annoying ads interrupt your viewing pleasure.

  4. We watch the majority of tv viewing on our tv screen. Might watch news updates on twitter. We don’t have pay tv as it appears to be more useless than useful. We have our own DVD stock pile. I really like the playback time for shows you miss or want to re-watch. I hate the re-run ofthe same movies over and over again during the year, I think its an insult to viewers, hence the DVD pile.

  5. “Australians still spend a remarkable 2 hours and 39 minutes each on average per day watching live or playing back broadcast TV channel content on in-home sets – just half an hour less than they did six years ago.”

    Another way of putting it is that time spent watching broadcast TV has dropped 15% in just 6 years.

    Figures like that should be terrifying to any TV executive, which I guess is why they’re putting on a brave face & positive spin…

    1. Was going to point out the same thing. It’s the other way around for me. I’m watching about 15% of the amount of broadcast TV as I did 5 years ago.

      I have NBN FTTP and I notice international speeds drop significantly from around 3pm WST as people on the east coast start gorging themselves on VoD. I leave any streaming until after 8pm when I don’t have to worry about buffering.

      The reason that regional figures are higher than the national average is simply because internet penetration is lower in regional areas.

  6. This where it’s going.
    Our upstairs TV is no longer connected to an aerial. We moved viewing position and never bothered to move the co-ax point. Netflix and Kodi only. Thinking of taking the aerial down altogether eventually. Wouldn’t even consider getting Pay TV. FTA have done it to themselves – cheap and awful TV, endless news has driven us away.

    1. Not to mention the doubling of ad time. An ep of Bewitched runs 25.00 whereas an ep of Modern Family runs 21.00 to accommodate an extra 8mins of ads per hr., on top of which we have 2 or 3 promos (ads for other programs) in every break.

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