posted on
16 December, 2015
(public)
10th edition of Ofcom's International Communications Market Report
On 10 December 2015, Ofcom, the converged regulator in the UK, published its tenth International Communications Market Report which provides comparative international data on the communications sector on the availability, take-up and use of services in the UK and 17 comparator countries.
The aim of the report is to benchmark the UK communications sector against a range of comparator countries in order to assess how the UK is performing in an international context. The report covers the year 2014 and compares the UK with 17 countries: France, Germany, Italy, the US, Japan, Australia, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Singapore, South Korea, Brazil, Russia, India, China and Nigeria.
Some key points include:
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Nearly two-thirds (66%) of people in the UK had used an online service to watch TV or films within the past week (increasing to 81% in the past month); the highest proportion across all of the countries surveyed.
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Around four in ten (44%) UK respondents had used a catch-up service from a free-to-air broadcaster within the past week, the greatest proportion of any country surveyed.
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The growth in use of video-on-demand services corresponds with a claimed decrease in viewing traditional TV as well as in watching DVDs and Blu-ray. The decrease in DVD/Blu-ray viewing is particularly striking; between 28% and 42% of respondents who view TV in the countries surveyed said they were watching DVDs/Blu-rays less than in the previous year. This figure stood at 32% in the UK.
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Digital radio set take-up in the UK was the highest of all surveyed comparator countries in 2015, at 50% of radio listeners. This is a rise of 9 percentage points from 2014. DAB coverage is also highest in the UK, reaching 96% of households.
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FM-only radios are the most common type of set owned by radio listeners in all of our comparator countries. Take-up of FM-only radios was highest in Italy and Spain (84%). The UK had the lowest take-up of FM-only radio sets (60%), although most radio sets with DAB or internet connectivity include an FM tuner.
Source: Ofcom Website