If I was to pick a favourite report (other than those from TechMarketView, of course!) I’d 
pick Ofcom’s annual Communications Market Report. Latest 2013 edition out today. To download the full 413 page report Click Here.
Let’s start with the state of the Comms Industry in the UK. It is, yet again, not the most attractive picture. Total UK revenues from telecoms, TV, radio and post fell yet again. The industry was worth £59.5b in 2012 – down 0.2%. The telecoms bit fell even faster – by c2% from £39.5b to £38.8b. In real term
s, the UK comms industry has reduced every year since 2004 when Ofcom first produced this report. The average monthly household spend on comms fell from £122.42 to £113.51. The biggest fall was in the cost of fixed line services as competition in the broadband market reached fever pitch. So Comms is certainly one area where we as consumers really are getting More for Less.
So what are these lucky consumers doing with all this increasingly lower-cost comms stuff?
The typical scenario is a family sitting in the living room seemingly all watching live TV together. Indeed more families say they watch live TV together than they did 10 years ago. Except they are not! Everyone is on their smartphone (over half the adults in the UK -51% - now own a smartphone compared with 27% just two years ago) or tablet (24% own a tablet; up from 11% last year). 91% of parents with a tablet admit to using it as an electronic babysitter – keeping the kids entertained. You only have to go into any restaurant in the summer holidays to verify that!
Whilst on ‘the kids’, web-based comms is now the most popular form of comms for 16-24 year olds. Rather sadly beating both face-to-face conversations and a phone call. Email, instant messaging and social networking are now more popular than texting in that age group.
15% of households are now ‘mobile only’ with no landline used for voice. There are a staggering 82.7m mobile subscriptions and 94% of adults now use a mobile. 55% of all adult internet users use social networking. If you had presented any of those forecasts at an industry conference only 5 years back you would risk being laughed at!
Ofcom introduce us to two new terms. Media meshing is all about communicating via a device like a smartphone or tablet about the TV programme you are watching. Media stacking is carrying out other comms activities (like emailing, surfing etc) while watching TV. 25% regularly media mesh – it reached its zenith during the Wimbledon Men’s Final with 1.1m tweeting – 80% from mobiles. 49% regularly media stack – 36% surf the net, 22% are on social media and 16% doing online shopping. More women media stack than men – although it’s pretty even in our household!
For data nerds like me, the Ofcom report is a jewel. Entertainingly written too. If you want more, just read the report Click Here.