|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Ofcom Communications Market Report 2007
The range of services and devices now available to children (8-15 year olds) in the UK is rapidly changing what they do with their time. Over 75 per cent of 11 year olds now have their own television, games console and mobile phone. Some 15 per cent of 13 to15 year olds and 7 per cent of 10 year olds also have their own webcam.
Fewer children are playing console and computer games (61 per cent regularly did so in 2005 down to 53 per cent in 2007), watching videos and DVDs (59 per cent did so regularly in 2005 and 38 per cent in 2007) and listening to radio (40 per cent listened regularly in 2005 and 20 per cent in 2007). Instead, they are using their mobile phones more often (50 per cent regularly did so in 2005 compared with 53 per cent in 2007), surfing the internet (47 per cent regularly in 2005 to 52 per cent in 2007) and using MP3 players (20 per cent regularly in 2005 to 28 per cent in 2007).
* Older people are also consuming more media. The over 55s was the only age group to increase its average radio listening between 2002 and 2007 (up 5.5 per cent). And older people are not just increasing their use of traditional media. Some 16 per cent of over-65s use the web. These silver surfers spend an average of 42 hours online every month, more than any other age group. Indeed, far from being just a young person_s technology, one quarter of all UK internet users are over 50 and the over-50s account for 30 per cent of total time spent online.
* Among 25-34 year olds women spend more time using the internet than men. In this age group, 2.18m young women users account for 55 per cent of total time spent online. By comparison, just 1.83m 25-34 year old men in the UK use the Internet.
The networked nation
The process of convergence - bringing technologies, platforms and devices closer together - is connecting the nation as never before. Consumers can now get live TV over their mobile, radio over their TV and make voice calls on the Internet.
* There is now an even greater range of Obundled_ communications services providing landline, broadband, digital television and mobile in a single package. As a result, the number of consumers taking services in bundles rose to 40 per cent of the population by April 2007, up by a third over 12 months.
* Consumers are increasingly using telephone services over the internet offered by so-called VoIP providers. At the end of 2006 20 per cent of respondents to Ofcom_s survey said they were phoning online, up from 14 per cent at the end of 2005.
* And in the UK we are increasingly relying on our mobile phones. The report shows that by the end of 2006 there were more than double the number of mobile connections (69.7m) than landline connections (33.6m). More UK households now rely just on a mobile phone (9 per cent) than rely just on a landline (7 per cent) and for the first time, total mobile call minutes (82bn) accounted for over one third of all call minutes (234bn).
* Today_s consumers are using their mobiles for much more than just making phone calls. Some 41 per cent of mobile phone users regularly use their phone as a digital camera, 13 per cent use it for internet access, 10 per cent listen to FM radio broadcasts, and 21 per cent use it as a mini games console. And in 2006 mobile users in the UK sent 20 per cent more texts than the previous year with an average of 12 text messages per mobile per week.
* Wireless networks are allowing more people to access the internet on-the-move. Some 11.2 per cent (7.8m) of mobile phones now connect to a 3G network (70 per cent up on 2005 at 4.6m). The report also shows the number of Wi-Fi hotspots in the UK, which enable broadband speed wireless internet access, is also increasing. By April 2007 there were 11,447 hotspots compared to 10,339 a year previously.
* Digital television - in 80.5 per cent per cent of UK homes by April 2007 – is changing what, when and how we watch. One of the new services being used by viewers in the 11.5 million subscription television households is high-definition (HD) television. The report finds that, in the 450,000 homes that have it, 33 per cent of viewing time is spent watching in HD and 43 per cent of those surveyed said that they watch more television - especially premium content such as films and sport - as a result of having HD.
* And by April 2007, 15 per cent of respondents said they had a digital video recorder (DVR), almost double the number at the end of 2006. DVRs allow users to record whole television series and to pause and rewind live programmes. * Radio listeners have a much wider choice of stations and ways of listening due to the growth of digital radio. In 2006 the total number of DAB digital radio sets sold broke through the 5 million mark and 17.2 per cent of UK homes now have a DAB digital radio. DAB sets accounted for 18.6 per cent of all radio sales in 2006 (1.8m sets) compared to 12.9 per cent in 2005 (1.5m sets). * DAB is not the only way that consumers listen to digital radio. The report finds that 33 per cent of consumers have listened to the radio via digital television (15 per cent do so at least weekly), 21-22 per cent listen online (12 per cent at least weekly) and 10-12 per cent listen via their mobile phone (6 per cent at least weekly).
