Catch-up TV rejected by young

A report has found that the 16-24 age band is the least likely to take advantage of catch-up TV services in favour of watching TV programmes live.

Services such as the BBC's iPlayer, as well as offerings direct from ISPs such as BT Vision and Tiscali TV, have increased options for those who want to watch TV at any time, but it seems younger people are still tied to the TV schedules.

The survey, conducted by Microsoft, found that 42 per cent of people in this age group say they organise their social lives around the TV listings and over 30 per cent would choose to stay in if there was something on that they wanted to watch.

"Young adults are still willing to change their schedules to catch their favourite shows live so that they can talk about them with their friends right away," said Christine Heckart of Microsoft.

"For the rest of us, life is too hectic and we value being able to catch-up and watch our favourite shows at a more convenient time," she continued.

Of the 1,739 people questioned in the survey, 30 per cent said they have fewer arguments in the home about what to watch and four in 10 said they now pause TV rather than ignore a phone call or knock at the door.

Microsoft's report supports findings in the recent UK Communications Market Report 2008 concerning the UK public's appetite for catch-up TV services.

At the end of 2007 nearly six million households had a Digital Video Recorder (DVR), up by 53 per cent in a year.

Peter Phillips of Ofcom said: "We are spending more and more time with our communications devices but spending less on them. Our devotion to watching, listening and staying in touch wherever and whenever we want shows no sign of diminishing."

www.microsoftmediaroom.com
www.ofcom.org.uk