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Television consumption will remain at a high level in the coming years. If a current British study is to be believed, there will even be audience growth over the next five years. According to investigations by Attentional http://www.attentional.com, television consumption in Great Britain will increase by a total of five percent. The 18-to-34-year-old group, particularly beloved by advertisers, is also likely to increase accordingly. The future for the medium of television looks better than initially assumed, according to the audience-research experts.
The optimistic forecast is surprising, as many media experts tend to assume a decline in traditional television consumption. The latest media control surveys in Germany were also not particularly encouraging, according to which younger target groups in particular turned away from television ever more clearly in 2007. However, there were also specific reasons for the decline in television use, concedes the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Fernsehforschung (AGF) http://www.agf.de. ‘The decline in television use in 2007 can certainly be attributed to the absence of major events such as the football World Cup, which led to above-average television consumption in 2006,’ says Anke Weber, head of the AGF office. The extremely good weather in the first half of 2007 also contributed to people watching less television.
One of the main reasons for the forecast growth in television consumption is said to be older viewers, who are making increasing use of digital channels and therefore watching more television overall. Younger target group, which had previously made less use of multichannel systems, would also slowly follow suit. The trend would be accompanied by falling prices. ‘The television broadcasters are working hard to address and continue retaining the young audience,’ the Attentional report states. The broadcasters are pursuing this goal not least with comprehensive promotional campaigns on the internet.
The only target group for which the survey predicts a negative development is children aged between four and 15. A sustained decline in daily viewing time, combined with a shrinking population, will produce a fall of four percent within the next five years. Overall, the television broadcasters are in a much better situation than is widely discussed, says Farid El-Husseini, Head of Econometrics at Attentional. In his assessment, the declines from 2004 and 2005 will not be repeated — at least in Great Britain.
