The Communications Market Report: Scotland
Increase in television content produced in Scotland
The amount of television content produced in Scotland increased again in 2009 for the third year running.
Scotland now accounts for 3.6 per cent of all networked programming produced by the four public service broadcasters across the UK, up from 2.5 per cent in 2008.
The amount of networked production has risen in Scotland by 38 per cent since 2006, with programme spending rising from £50m to £65m.
Last year Scotland was also the only UK nation to see a rise in spending on programmes produced specifically for its viewers.
Scottish TV viewers also watched more TV than anyone else in the UK and they're also the most likely to use television as their main source of local news.
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.
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.
Fewer Scots also use the internet to access health, banking or government websites than elsewhere in the UK.
Ofcom's Director in Scotland, Vicki Nash, said: '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 average Scot watches TV for 4.2 hours per day, higher than the UK average of 3.8 hours per person per day 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 - 56 per cent took a pay satellite service compared to 51 per cent of Scottish homes in urban locations.
STV broadcast a higher volume of own-productions for viewers in Scotland, than the ITV networks in the other nations of the UK. Non-news output has increased 67 per cent since 2005, from 221 hours to 370 hours in 2009.
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.
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, 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).
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).
Some 96 per cent are satisfied with the overall service provided by their mobile supplier.
The market context
- Introduction
- Availability of communications platforms and services in Scotland
- Take-up of communications platforms and services in Scotland
- Take-up of communications platforms and services in rural & urban Scotland
- Consumer take-up of bundled services in Scotland
- Consumers in Lothian and Forth Valley most likely to take bundles of communications services
- Spending by public service broadcasters on television and radio content in Scotland
- Consumption of television and radio services by people in Scotland
- Scottish consumers use of converged platforms and devices.
- Introduction
- Consumers in Scotland continue to value communications services relative to other items
- The communications service where consumers would be most likely to cut spend
- Consumers in Scotland perceive that communications providers are responding to the recession with better deals
- Scottish consumers are reluctant to purchase bundled communications services compared to the rest of the UK
- Consumers agreement / disagreement that they were more likely to take communications services in a bundle
- Scottish consumers embrace HDTV in spite of the economic downturn
- Consumers agreement with a range of statements exploring changes in behaviour over the last 12 months
- A greater proportion of consumers in Scotland (relative to the UK average) are not worried about the economic downturn
- Introduction and context
- Fixed broadband services
- Average line speeds versus distance of customer premises from the telephone exchange
- Availability of Virgin Media cable broadband
- Availability of Virgin Media cable broadband (by nation)
- Consumers in Scotland are more satisfied than the UK average with their broadband service, although less so than in 2008, particularly in rural areas
- Mobile services
- 2G mobile coverage map and population density in Scotland, by postcode district
- 2G mobile coverage map and population density in the UK, by postcode district
- 3G mobile phone geographic and population coverage, by number of operators
- The UKs 3G coverage map
- Over 40% of mobile phone users in Scotland claim to regularly experience mobile not-spots
- The consumers experience of mobile not-spots in Scotland
- Current progress and future work on not-spots
- Despite 41% of people regularly experiencing mobile not-spots, most are satisfied with the service they receive
TV and video content
- Recent developments in Scotland
- BBC Scotland
- MG Alba
- Digital switchover in Scotland
- STV North and Central
- Consumer experiences and readiness in Scotland
- PSB spend on TV programmes for viewers in Scotland
- Investment in English-language programmes for Scottish viewers
- Change in investment, by genre and nation, 2004 2009
- Investments per head made by the BBC and ITV/STV/UTV in regional and national output, 2009
- Hours of programmes for viewers in Scotland showed the smallest decline
- The cost per hour of output for the nations, 2009
- BBC ALBA
- Programme production in the UK nations and English regions
- Performance against the out-of-London production quotas
- Expenditure on out-of-London production
- Volume of out-of-London production
- Breakdown of expenditure, by broadcaster
- Volume of out-of-London production by broadcaster
- Non-network production in Scotland
- Other quota compliance matters
- STV performance against the independent quota, 2009
- Proportion of repeats broadcast by STV, 2009
- Number of DTV households
- Satellite is the most widely-used TV platform in Scotland, closely followed by DTT
- Over half of all homes in Scotland (52%) take a pay-TV service
- Viewers in Scotland watched the most TV in the UK in 2009
- Reduction in combined share of the main PSB channels, 2004 2009
- PSB portfolio channels gain most share in multichannel homes in Scotland - offsetting loss of main PSB channel shares
- Local and regional news viewing is popular in Scotland
- BBC One and ITV1/ STV/UTV early evening news bulletin shares
- Sources of local news in Scotland
- Over a quarter of households in Scotland used the internet to watch video online
- A quarter of people in Lothian and Forth Valley have used the internet to watch catch-up TV
- One-fifth of homes in Scotland use the internet to watch video clips and webcasts
- Take-up of games consoles in Scotland was below the UK average
Radio and audio content
- Recent developments in Scotland
- Community radio
- Gaelic
- BBC Radio funding in Scotland
- Commercial radio revenues per head higher in Scotland
- FM availability in Scotland
- DAB availability in Scotland
- DAB station choice higher in larger cities
- Hours of radio listening per head lower in Scotland than in other UK nations
- Over half of all radio listening in Scotland is to local commercial radio
- BBC nations radio listening in Scotland
- One in three own a DAB digital radio set
- Likelihood to purchase DAB radio set lower in Scotland and Wales
- Reasons for not purchasing DAB radio set
- Ownership of MP3 players lower than average in Scotland
- Radio listening through DAB, DTV, online, and mobile phone
- Over a fifth (22%) of radio listening hours in Scotland are via digital platforms
- Listening to audio via mobile phone less popular in Scotland (13% of total) than across the UK (18%)
- Frequency of listening to online radio is lower in Scotland than in England and Northern Ireland
- Listening to streamed audio services is still a niche activity
- Satisfaction with choice of radio services high in Scotland
Internet and online content
- Recent developments in Scotland
- Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group
- Broadband take-up
- Mobile broadband is especially high in Grampian, Tayside and Fife
- Awareness of mobile broadband
- At 8%, Scotland has the lowest proportion of people who have accessed the internet via a mobile phone
- Non-ownership of broadband
- Sending emails and web browsing are the most popular internet activities in Scotland
- People in Scotland are less likely to use the internet to access government services
- Three in ten households in Scotland use online banking services (compared to 43% across the UK)
- In Scotland 14% of households claim to visit websites for health-related information (compared to 27% across the UK)
- Social networking
Telecoms and networks
- Fixed voice telephony and narrowband internet availability
- Broadband internet availability
- DSL broadband availability
- LLU broadband availability
- Urban households more than twice as likely as rural ones to be able to access LLU broadband services
- Map of LLU DSL availability reflects higher availability in urban areas
- Cable broadband availability
- Scotland has the second highest proportion of both urban and rural homes passed by Virgin Media's cable broadband network
- As with LLU DSL, cable broadband availability is concentrated in urban areas
- Mobile
- 2G
- 3G
- 3G by area
- Service take-up
- Fixed-line
- Mobile
- The number of mobile-only households continues to rise, reaching 19% in 2010 in Scotland
- Pay-as-you-go more popular in Scotland than in the UK as a whole
- Take-up of 3G in Scotland is equal to the UK average of 26%
- Internet and broadband
- Satisfaction with telecoms services
- Satisfaction with value for money of fixed-line services highest in Scotland
- Fixed broadband satisfaction
- Satisfaction with speed of fixed broadband in Scotland
- Satisfaction with mobile services in Scotland
- Switching
Search CMR 2010