Online entertainment consumption rises in U.K.

The number of people in the U.K. viewing TV, movie or video-related content online has grown significantly, and so has the amount of time being spent on those websites.

by Helen Leggatt

In the year September 2006 to September 2007 the number of Britons visiting websites containing TV, movie or video-related content rose by 28 percent to 21 million. The same sector is visited by 63 percent of online Britons as of September 2007, up 15 percent on last year, according to a recent survey by Nielsen Online*.

“Whether it’s additional content relating to a particular TV programme or actually watching episodes or videos through their computer, we are starting to see a significant spread of entertainment consumption from the so-called ‘lean-back’ method of TV to the ‘lean-forward’ method of the PC,” said Alex Burmaster, internet analyst at Nielsen Online.

Internet users are spending much more time on TV, movie and video-related sites – a massive 91 percent more during the same 12 month period.

The ten most popular sites, along with the number of unique users, are:

YouTube - 9.4 million
BBC - 6.7 million
Lycos Europe Movie – 3 million
Sky – 3 million
ITV – 2.1 million
Channel 4 - 2.1 million
Google Video - 1.8 million
Odeon – 900,000
TV-links.co.uk - 800,000
TV.com – 800,000

* Nielsen Online is the new name for services previously marketed under the Nielsen//NetRatings and Nielsen BuzzMetrics brands

Tags: Nielsen Online, online television, survey, U.K., video-related content