The preferred way to watch the London 2012 Olympic Games
For many it may seem like there is little else than coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Games on television at the moment. Indeed, there is always an opportunity to watch live events or to catch up with recent wins thanks to the BBC’s introduction of 24 dedicated channels, not to mention coverage by other permanent channels, like British Eurosport and Sky Sports. So with so much content being broadcast, how are we watching the Olympics in the UK?
Broadbandmart.com, a leader in broadband offer comparison for many providers, conducted an independent study into the TV viewing habits in the UK since the beginning of the Olympic Games. A survey of four single choice questions was circulated of which 746 individuals took part.
The survey found that of those 746 participants, 41.29% are watching one hour of coverage on a daily basis. 41.82% are watching between two and four hours, and 17.56% are watching more than five hours of Olympic content each day. That being said, still, we return to the original question of how are we watching the Olympics in the UK?
Of the total number of participants, only 12.06% stated that they had watched coverage of the Olympic Games on a mobile device (tablet, iPad, mobile, iPhone). The great majority had watched via television.
What’s more, of that small percentage of participants watching on their mobile device, 18.05% were male and 8.53% were female. It also became apparent that there was a distinction between the ages of users as well, since 18.1% were 18-34 years old; 10.03% were 35-54 years old; and 8.11% were over 50 years of age. These age groups include both males and females.
This study was also conducted in good time to coincide with the findings released by the House of Lords earlier this month, which demonstrated that rural communities are experiencing huge neglect when it comes to broadband coverage. Apparently, the battle to become the ISP with the fastest broadband connection in towns and cities has meant that households in the countryside have been forgotten entirely, receiving no internet at all! Interestingly, the study also found that those who did use a mobile device were mostly in urban areas. The South, including London, had a total usage of 14.62%, beaten only by Northern Ireland with a total usage of 15.38%. The Midlands and Wales used 13.83% and the North and Scotland used just 7.38%.
Of those mobile device users, the bulk is well educated, with A-Levels, degrees, postgraduate and PhD levels of education. Similarly, the annual income of those users is significantly higher than those who did not watch online content through their mobile device. Most individual users were in intermediate managerial positions (18.81%), 17.65% were in higher managerial or administrative positions, followed by intellectual professionals, skilled workers. The only discrepancy was students, who are renowned for their use of mobile devices and other technology.
It was also discovered that UK households with more people living under one roof are using their mobile devices. The percentage of devices in use rose consistently with the increase in the number of children in that home. Households with one child used 16.24%, those with two used 21.65%, those with three used 21.74% and those with five used 33.33%.
Therefore, it can be seen that while the number of people in the UK using mobile devices to stay up to date with the events in the London 2012 Olympic Games is not particularly high, there are a significant number of households with larger families or a greater number of people living under one roof which do use these services.
One could deduce therefore that interactive services are the preferred subscription for many busy homes in the UK, so that all entertainment demands can be met, regardless of age of gender. ISPs which cater to these interactive services therefore and which are optimised for mobile use will benefit, however, television retains its position as the favoured medium through which to watch coverage of the Olympic Games.
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