Global TV revenue climbs

Global TV’s revenues hit £239bn (US$370bn) last year, up 7.7% on the previous year, due to a rise in subscription revenues and recovery in the ad market, according to new research.

UK communications regulator Ofcom’s sixth annual International Communications Market Report found that viewers in the US watched most TV last year, with people spending an average of 283 minutes per day in front of the box – up 1.1% year-on-year.

In the UK, people spent 242 minutes per day on average watching TV, while 27% of internet users claim to have accessed TV content over the web every week – the highest among the countries surveyed.

However, France boasted the highest ‘smart TV’ take-up, with 13% of people claiming to own such a device, compared with 7% in Australia and the UK.

A separate study by UK research firm YouGov, also out today, gave an even rosier picture of the smart TV landscape. It said that in France the penetration of these devices now stands at 18%, compared with 9% in the US and 10% in the UK.

However, YouGov warned that only a further 4% of people in the UK plan to buy a connected TV in the next year, with the ability to access the net through games consoles such as the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 described as a “significant obstacle” to growth. Affordability was also counted as a key issue.

“There can be no burying of heads in the sand. This uncertainty and confusion among consumers about the technology is clearly an obstacle for manufacturers who will have to raise awareness of their product’s capabilities if smart TVs are to become as ubiquitous as smartphones,” added YouGov’s media consulting director, Dan Brilot.

Elsewhere, comScore said today that more than 201.4 billion online videos were viewed globally in October, with Google sites – principally YouTube – accounting for 44% of these views.

The second largest video site globally was China’s Youku, which accounted for 4.6 billion video views, or 2.3% of the market. Vevo came in third with 1.8%, followed by Facebook with 1.3%.

The stats also revealed that online video engagement was the highest in the Canada and US, with viewers here watching an average of 304 and 286 videos each per month. In the UK viewers averaged nearly 269 videos, while in Turkey and Germany the figure stood at 251 videos.