The latest figures from TAM Ireland have revealed that Irish people spend an average of three and half hours watching television every day. This is an increase of 14 minutes per day on the figures as reported by Ipsos MBRI in 2012, the last time the survey was completed.
In spite of the increasing popularity of on-demand viewing services offered by Netflix, Sky and UPC among others, as well as various stations’ playback options, 92 per cent of what Irish people watch is still live. The traditional option of sitting in front of the television at home was also still the preferred choice of 80% of those surveyed, with 5.5% watching on a laptop, 3% on a mobile phone and just 1.6% using a tablet.
The TV set itself is still the most popular device to watch TV on amongst 95% of those surveyed. However, the research also found that more and more people are adding other devices to their viewing habits, typically laptops, tablets and gaming consoles. When these are taken into account average viewing levels rise to almost four hours per day according to the Ipsos MRBI-conducted research.
The latest research was launched at a TAM Ireland breakfast seminar this week which featured Lord David Puttnam as the keynote speaker. During the event TAM Ireland also announced details of TAMvision, an ambitious plan to capture to measure all forms of audio-visual content across all devices by 2017.
TAM Ireland is currently piloting "Extended Screen" measurement which captures viewing on Laptops and PCs and it is working with the industry to develop tagging solutions to identify content across all platforms. In addition to current developments, it will hold conversations with platform providers to explore incorporating return-path data into audience measurement.
The measurement period was from January to May this year and so excludes the Fifa World Cup which would may have influenced these figures significantly. Figures gathered by The Irish Times from Paul Moran at Mediaworks has run Nielsen TV figures shows the coverage on RTÉ of the 12 World Cup matches broadcast last week between Monday 23rd June and Sunday 29th June attracted an average “live” viewership of 298,140. The GAA Championship is also bearing well at this time with matches on RTÉ TV for Sunday 29th June, attracting an average “live” viewership of 266,130.
