Pay channels clock in with Blighty auds
Terrestrial TV losing viewers
According to new statistics from the Institute of Practioners in Advertising, U.K. viewers watched the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 an average of 2 hours and 43 minutes a day in the second quarter of 2001, down over eight minutes from the previous year, and a decrease of 29 minutes from 10 years ago.
How much TV in total Brits watched remained roughly constant at 3.5 hours per day over the decade, indicating that viewers have opted to give more of their time to pay programming such as sports, movies and imported U.S. shows.
Heaviest hit was ITV, the U.K.'s biggest commercial web. Its viewing share fell from 28.9% in the first quarter of the year to a 27.5% in the second.
BBC1, the pubcaster's flagship channel, also slipped, down from 26.5% to 26.2%.
