Freeview breaks 2m mark after record Christmas sales

by Darren Davidson, Brand Republic 06-Feb-07, 12:00

LONDON - Sales of Freeview set-top boxes broke the 2m barrier during the fourth quarter of last year, helped by record sales over Christmas.

The bumper Christmas took sales of the free-to-view digital TV service past 15m since launch in October 2002. The figure includes sales across all Freeview-related products, including digital boxes, digital televisions, and digital TV recorders.

The 2m figure for the fourth quarter was an increase of 700,000 on the third quarter and an increase of 200,000 on the fourth quarter of 2005.

Sales of Freeview digital TV recorders were 90,000 in the fourth quarter of 2006 compared with 43,000 in the fourth quarter of 2005.

According to GroupM's UK media and marketing report for 2006, the bulk of new Freeview sales are upgrades or second sets for homes who already own a Freeview box.

Freeview said it expects sales to receive a significant boost from the consumer launch of Freeview Playback, the new brand for Freeview TV recorders, which has been delayed from last year to later this year.

Cary Wakefield, Freeview general manager, said: "We've enjoyed our most successful Christmas ever and are delighted to confirm our continuing popularity.

"With 2m sales since Ofcom's last report, which put Freeview in 9.3m homes, we're well on our way to becoming the nation's favourite way to watch TV."