According to IHS Markit's (NASDAQ:INFO) "Cross-Platform Television Viewing Time 2016" report, time spent watching television plateaued in the UK and France in 2016. The report analyzes video consumption trends across the "big five" European markets: France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.
Linear TV viewing declined across the big five European markets in 2016, with personal video recorder (PVR) time-shifted viewing starting to plateau as PVRs become standard in pay TV offerings. In the past two years, an increasing proportion of TV consumption moved to on-demand platforms due to the prolific growth of online video services and content availability.
Across the big five European markets, total TV revenue - including pay TV subscriptions, advertising and public funding - declined marginally in 2016 to EUR 58.0 billion from EUR 58.3 billion the prior year. Public funding revenue declined by 5%, while pay TV revenue increased by 2%, largely driven by on-demand revenue, which grew by 10%. In comparison, online video generated EUR 5 billion in revenue in 2016, rising 32% from 2015.
Fateha Begum, associate director for television media at IHS Markit, said: "Despite declines, linear TV will continue to account for the bulk of television viewing and must reach a point of plateau. However, traditional TV operators need to address the fact that competition for consumers' time and media spend is intensifying."
To adapt to shifts in the market, pay TV operators have been bolstering their services by launching next-generation set-top boxes, enhancing on-demand catalogs and investing in new platforms and content.
Research by IHS Markit indicates that the average number of on-demand titles offered by UK pay TV operators increased by 13% between 2015 and 2016. Adaptations to online-style binge viewing are also evident, with the same operators showing a 31% increase in complete box sets during the same time period.
Digitally mature markets such as the UK and France saw total viewing time stabilize in 2016 despite seeing the highest rate of growth in non-linear viewing.
"Further competition for consumers' time is coming from beyond video because there's a wide range of media services at their fingertips," Begum said. "The rising availability of connected set-top boxes presents an opportunity for pay TV operators to bring some of the connected experiences to the big screen. We expect the media and entertainment markets to become increasingly muddied as players, including social media companies, look to expand their portfolios."
Time spent on linear TV viewing in Italy far exceeded that of its European counterparts, followed by Spain. Both markets have seen declines in linear viewing as non-linear platforms make strong inroads into TV consumption.
"Time spent viewing online short-form content in Italy is notably higher than in any other of the big five European markets," said Rob Moyser, analyst for television media at IHS Markit. "Italy's low fixed broadband penetration has encouraged consumers to access the Internet via mobile devices instead of traditional broadband networks."
Germany was the only market among those analyzed in the report to achieve an increase in linear viewing time and, subsequently, total viewing time in 2016.
"Despite nearly a 20% increase in non-linear viewing time, new methods of consumption have had minimal impact on traditional TV in Germany," Begum said.