The third International Communications Market Report from Ofcom has found that the UK has the highest penetration of digital TV services of all the larger countries surveyed, with 86% of British households now using digital services on their main TV sets (up 9% on last year), writes Brand Republic. The US and France follow with 70% and 66% respectively. The study has also revealed that ad revenues are no longer the main source of commercial TV funding as a result of the growing use of pay-TV services and Digital Video Recorders (DVRs). Global TV advertising generated 49% of revenues (£81bn) - a decrease of 50% on 2007. However, subscription revenues rose 2% to 43% to reach £71bn.
The UK also leads Europe in the number of High-definition (HD) enabled households, with 700,000 (6%) - higher than the combined figure for France, Germany and Italy (500,000). The US has the highest number of households with HD subscriptions at 6m (6.2%) though Canada leads on penetration at 17.6% (with 2m households). British consumers also come first for DVR use, with 30% using the devices compared to 21% in both Italy and Canada, and 20% in the US.
According to the report the UK benefits from competitive pricing bundles with a typical triple-play package (with landline, four mobile phones, pay-TV and broadband access) costing £104/month compared to £114 in Italy and £131 in France.
From Brand Republic: http://www.brandrepublic.com, 20/11/2008
Ofcom: http://www.ofcom.org.uk