When it comes to watching online TV or doing anything else on the web. The UK is officially number one in Europe, according to a new report from Ofcom.

Not only do UK residents watch more TV online, they also shop online more, own more smartphones and DVR’s, and even play more games says the report titled, sixth International Communications Market Report which studied web useage in 17 countries.

The Brits are online for an average time of just over 12 hours per week, which is more than any other major Country in the world, except for the USA. DVR ownership is also tops in the UK compared to the rest of Europe at 36% compared to France (21%), Germany or Italy at (22%).

When it comes to watching Digital TV, the UK is the biggest in Europe at 97% of homes receiving it. Second place goes to France with 93%, and the US comes in at 87%.

Thanks to a great choice of UK catch-up services such as iPlayer, 4OD and ITV Player, 27% of Brits are viewing online TV each week, even more than in the mighty US, where the figure is just 23%.

It seems that the rise of online viewing has not had a detrimental effect on regular TV viewers though, it seems the different technologies compliment each other instead.

Ofcom research director, James Thickett said, “Instead of one technology replacing another we are seeing people learning to simultaneously use different devices. You might be watching TV while texting or checking Facebook messages. Far from getting lost in this digital revolution, the opposite is happening, TV has managed to reinvent itself as a medium that complements other media.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 14th, 2011 at 9:43 am and is filed under catch up tv, Internet TV news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.