People are seeing more television ads than ever, research shows

by Staff, Brand Republic 12-Aug-08, 08:50

LONDON - The average person in the UK watched 42 television ads per day in the first six months of the year, in a record-breaking period for commercial television.

Figures released by Thinkbox, which promotes advertising on television, showed that the total number of commercial impacts, or ads seen, rose by 6% compared with the same period last year.

The figures are based on research by BARB and only include domestic broadcast television, which means that the time spent by people watching television online isn't "stealing" hours from traditional broadcast.

The figures also show that the ABC1 audiences loved by advertisers are watching 9% more television than last year, and that 16- to 34-year-olds are watching 3% more.

Thinkbox has attributed the increase in television viewing to increased digital television penetration, what it called a 'creative renaissance' in UK advertising and the British climate, which keeps many people indoors.

New technologies are also boosting television hours and commercial impacts, with research from Sky's Skyview panel showing that households watch 5% more ads on television when they get the Sky+ service.

Tess Alps, Thinkbox's chief executive, said: "This is a shaft of very bright light that cuts through any economic gloom. Broadcast TV revenues held firm in the first half of 2008, and, whatever the economic climate holds for the advertising market, I hope these figures will underline the great strength and resilience of commercial TV."

Her comments make a stark contrast to the reaction to ITV's results, when the broadcaster revealed that profits were down by 28% for the first half of the year.

The research does not currently include television watched on catch-up services such as Channel 4's 4OD and ITV.com, but Thinkbox last week said it had commissioned further research to examine how and why people use online TV, its relationship to broadcast TV and the advertising opportunities it affords, with preliminary results expected before the end of the year.

Read Gordon's Republic blog: Thinkbox research doesn't tally with my reality.

Comments

FP - 12/08/2008

Does this research count ads that are watched at x30 speed on Sky+ as you fast forward from one break-bumper to the next?

TESS ALPS - 12/08/2008

No. BARB doesn't count an ad as a commercial impact unless it is viewed at normal speed. Obviously, there is value in fast-forwarded ads - I'd say at least as much as driving past a poster or flicking past a press ad - but they aren't counted by BARB and hence are free to advertisers. Actually, we have some hilarious footage from our engagement research, which put cameras inside people's TVs, showing people drooling over some ads even though they are watching them at x12 and also several examples of people rewinding to watch an ad they like again at normal speed.