Increase in TV content produced in Scotland
The level of expenditure on television content produced in Scotland increased again in 2009, Ofcom’s annual Communications Market Report has revealed.
Scotland now accounts for 3.6 per cent of all networked programme spend by the four public service broadcasters across the UK, up from 2.5 per cent in 2008.
This represents a 38 per cent increase since 2006, and a rise in spend from £50m to £65m. It also marks the third year in which the volume of networked production has risen in Scotland.
Last year Scotland was also the only UK nation to see a rise in spending on programmes produced specifically for its viewers.
TV news
Scottish TV viewers also watched more TV than anyone else in the UK and they’re also more likely than people living elsewhere in the UK to watch television as their main source of local news (64 per cent compared to the UK average of 49 per cent).
STV’s evening bulletin attracts a 24 per cent audience share and is more popular than the average of other bulletins on the ITV network, which have a UK-wide audience share of 19 percent.
And while investment in both news and current affair programming fell across the UK , in Scotland spending on current affairs rose by 17 per cent while news spending increased 5 per cent.
However, Scotland is below the UK average when it comes to the take-up and use of broadband, fixed line telephones, social networking, games consoles and mobile phones.
Broadband take-up
Fewer Scots also use the internet to access health, banking or government websites than elsewhere in the UK.
Broadband take-up in Scotland also showed the smallest increase across the UK, at just 1 per cent between 2009 and 2010 (to reach 61 per cent), but varies from 72 per cent in Edinburgh and the Forth Valley to 53 per cent in Glasgow, Clyde and Lanarkshire.
The research found that Scotland has the lowest level of mobile phone ownership (85 per cent compared to a UK average of 89 per cent), yet along with Wales has the highest level of mobile-only households (19 per cent compared to a UK average of 14 per cent).
Despite this, Scots are ranked lowest for accessing the internet with a mobile phone (9 per cent compared to a UK average of 16 per cent).
Rural communications
Ofcom’s research confirmed that people who live in rural locations across the UK including rural Scotland are less likely to have access to super-fast broadband, a 3G phone signal, and to a choice of suppliers through their local fixed telephone exchange.
The research shows that the average broadband speeds delivered to premises in rural locations are typically lower than in urban areas; that fixed-line take-up is often higher; and that households are less likely in rural areas to take communications services in bundles.
In Scotland, people in rural areas were less likely to have a mobile phone (80 per cent compared to 86 per cent in urban areas) and to buy a 3G handset (17 per cent in rural areas compared to 27 per cent).
However, consistent with the picture across the UK, people in rural areas were more likely to have a landline phone (88 per cent) than those in urban areas (77 per cent).
Vicki Nash, Director, Ofcom Scotland, said of this year’s Communications Market Report: ‘This report provides a vital snapshot of communication trends in Scotland.
‘Ofcom’s data shows improving news for Scottish broadcasting, but also a slowing in demand for broadband – Scotland is now the least connected nation in the UK.
‘With such obvious economic and social benefits to broadband, this development will be of interest to both policymakers and the public.’
The Communications Market Report for Scotland
Communications in Scotland 2010
TV
- The average Scot watches TV for 4.2 hours per day, higher than the UK average (3.8 hours) and higher than in any other UK nation
- Ninety one per cent of homes have digital TV in Scotland
- Fifty two per cent of digital TV homes take a pay-TV service such as Sky or Virgin Media
- Rural Scots are more likely to use satellite TV – 57 per cent took a pay satellite service compared to 35 per cent of Scottish homes in urban locations
- STV broadcast a higher volume of own-productions for viewers in Scotland
- Non-news output has increased 67 per cent since 2005, from 221 hours to 370 hours in 2009
Radio
- Eighty seven per cent of Scots listen to radio on a weekly basis, lower than the UK average of 90 per cent
- Time spent listening is also lower than the UK average, at 21 hours per week compared to 22 hours
- Just over half of Scottish radio listening (54 per cent) is to commercial stations, an increase of 2 per cent and above the UK average of 43 per cent
- Over a third (36 per cent) of adults in Scotland have a DAB set in the home, comparable to the UK average and higher than Wales and Northern Ireland
- DAB take-up was highest in the Glasgow, Clyde and Lanarkshire area, at 41 per cent
Phones
- Scotland has the lowest level of mobile phone ownership (85 per cent) in the UK
- But, along with Wales, it has the highest level of mobile-only households (19 per cent)
- Scots are ranked lowest for accessing the internet with a mobile phone (9 per cent compared to a UK average of 16 per cent)
- Consumers in Scotland have the highest level of satisfaction with the overall service provided by their fixed-line (93 per cent) and mobile (96 per cent) suppliers.
- In Scotland, people in rural areas were less likely to have a mobile phone (80 per cent compared to 86 per cent in urban areas) and to buy a 3G handset (17 per cent in rural areas compared to 27 per cent).
- However, people in rural areas were more likely to have a landline phone (88 per cent) than those in urban areas (77 per cent).
Internet
- Broadband ownership rose 1 per cent to 61 per cent – but its the lowest in the UK and 10 per cent below the UK average
- Broadband take-up varies across Scotland from 53 per cent in Glasgow, Clyde and Lanarkshire to 72 per cent in Lothian and Forth Valley
- Twelve per cent of people in Scotland use mobile broadband
- Just 13 per cent say they access local council or government sites online, less than half the UK average
- Twenty nine per cent of Scottish households access online banking sites (UK average 43 per cent), while 14 per cent use the internet to find information on health issues (UK average 27 per cent)
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