Traditional live TV forms virtually all of UK kids’ programming

Editor | 10-03-2014

A survey of the UK’s television habits by BBC TV Licensing has found that despite having unprecedented access to digital TV technology, 89% of children’s viewing time is still devoted to live TV programming.

The TeleScope 2014 report revealed that, overall, UK children spend two hours 23 minutes a day watching TV, 1.5 hours less than the national average of three hours and 55 minutes.

Even though three-quarters of UK homes have a PVR installed, eight of the top ten UK children’s programmes in 2013 were shown on school days between 4.30pm and 6.30pm. And despite almost half of all children aged five to 15 indicating that they use the likes of a PC or tablet to watch TV, nearly all (98%) spend time sitting in front of the ‘traditional’ living room TV set. That said, the report also disclosed that the use of tablets at home has tripled to 42% from 14% in 2012 for five to 15-year-olds, whilst those who had a TV in their bedroom dropped from 59% to 52%. For all ages, just over 55% of tablet owners were found to have used their device for viewing video content such as TV programmes.

“Children’s TV – as well as wider family entertainment programming – continues to play a central role in households,” commented Pipa Doubtfire, head of revenue management, BBC TV Licensing.



“The families we spoke to during our research for TeleScope 2014 had a wide variety of viewing habits, but all found TV programmes had the ability to bring the family together. It was also fascinating to see despite children having more devices and more ways in which to consume their favourite shows, the traditional TV set and live viewing are still the overwhelmingly the most favoured methods.”