VOD 'does not cannibalise broadcast TV'

A new report from Thinkbox, the marketing body for the UK's commercial broadcasters, has revealed that online video on demand services do not detract from linear television viewing.

The figures, which were published in a Thinkbox report showing that the number of adverts being watched has actually increased year-on-year, indicate that the popularity of web services such as iPlayer, 4OD and Sky Player "seems to be incremental to the broadcast television that people have always watched".

"That both broadcast and online TV platforms are growing simultaneously underlines how they fulfil different needs for viewers and that they can co-exist and indeed promote each other," the organisation said, adding that "online TV services are primarily used as a means of catching up with the broadcast stream".

Sky Media, which is part of the group of broadcasters represented by Thinkbox, also revealed that households with Sky+ "watch 5% more TV adverts" than those without, according to figures from its Sky View advertising panel.