Shared viewing now accounts for 56% of the total, up by 8.2% over the past five years, according to research from media buying agency Starcom. The findings go against the conventional wisdom that TV watching is becoming a more solitary occupation because of a wider choice of digital channels and multiple-set homes. However, reality programmes including Strictly Come Dancing, The X Factor and I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! are infinitely more fun to discuss with others rather than watch alone.
In my family it is certainly the case that a lot of viewing is communal, half the fun is to watch together and talk about it as well as enjoying the fact that it is a shared activity. If we want solitary, we can do the internet thing.
We should put this together with the observation that some of the bigges selling technologies are those that enable the social to take place more easily or conveniently. So much for individualism; definitely not the whole story!
MediaGuardian.co.uk | Media | Family viewing on the rise: Filed in: media, context, culture, making-do, TV, family, individual, social
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