The UK Plugs into Web TV

As in the US, UK broadcast television is not about to lose its pivotal role in the advertising landscape. TV claimed 21.8% of a record UK ad spend in 2007.

Yet even while TV viewing time in the UK continues to grow, on-demand viewing and downloading are growing much faster. Broadband translates to TV on the Web. High-speed lines already reach a majority of homes in the UK, and Internet usership in the country will top 38 million in 2008, bringing with it a transformation of the TV landscape.

Time-shifted television is part of this transition. More than one-half of UK Internet users watched on-demand or recorded TV in April 2008, according to a Redback Networks-sponsored study conducted by YouGov.

Of the 57% who time-shifted content, about one-third watched at least three hours of on-demand TV per week. Nearly one-half of those online in the UK said they had watched video or TV on the Internet, with most using Internet-based TV services for on-demand viewing (70%).

The same survey also found that women watched slightly more on-demand or recorded TV than men (58% versus 55%). Seniors (55 and older) and young adults (ages 18 to 24) watched the most on-demand or recorded TV (60%); 25 to 34 year-olds watched the least (51%).

"While the good old VHS recorder has created audience demand for time-shifted TV programs, it is new game-changing Internet video services, such as the BBC iPlayer, which are reshaping how carriers upgrade their networks over time," said Philip Wilton, director of sales at Redback, in a statement.

One of the most astonishing results in a market so new is that, overall, 52% of respondents who had watched TV or video online said they would be interested in watching TV and movies on their laptops "on a regular basis." This points to a genuine boom in online viewing of prime content, which should strengthen the commitment of content owners and Internet players to develop workable standards and business models.

Redback and YouGov said picture quality and the amount of free material were the top two factors that would encourage respondents to watch more video online.

"This has to be good news for broadcasters, whose output already conforms to very high quality standards, and for advertisers, whose ads will effectively underwrite free distribution of content to many consumers," said Karin von Abrams, senior analyst at eMarketer.

In one respect, most Web content is like traditional television: Both are free to watch. Once people invest in an online connection or a TV set, it costs nothing to watch.

Yet, despite this shared quality, viewers know they are unlikely to get all the TV content they want for free on the Web. Many respondents to an Accenture survey, for example, said they were "interested in" paying to download TV shows.