Research released by KPMG shows an increasing level of awareness of streamed television services in the United Kingdom. The BBC iPlayer was recognised by 90% of respondents, 68% of whom said they use it. General awareness of such services is remarkably high at 95%, although that does not necessarily translate into usage, particularly when it comes to paying for services.

The fifth wave of research for the KPMG Media and Entertainment Barometer was conducted by YouGov in October 2011 with an online panel of over 2,000 respondents aged 16 or above, weighted to be representative of the population in the United Kingdom.

Recognition of the BBC iPlayer remained exceptionally high at 90%. The ITV Player was recognised by 79% of those surveyed, an increase from 74% six months previously. 4oD was up to 51% from 48%, while Demand 5 rose to 30% from 25%.

Awareness of all the other services surveyed had also increased, with LoveFilm up to 65% from 58%, BT Vision up to 57% from 55%, Sky Player up to 53% from 50% and Sky Anytime at 47% from 39%. TalkTalk TV was up to 20% from 15%, with Apple TV also at 20% just ahead of Google TV at 18%.

Only 9% had heard of SeeSaw, which no longer exists, and 7% had heard of Blinkbox, now majority owned by Tesco.

General awareness of streamed television was high, with only 5% saying they had not heard of any of the these services.

However, awareness does not necessarily convert into usage, especially for paid services. While 68% claimed to have ever used the BBC iPlayer, 36% had used the ITV Player, while 30% had used 4oD and 9% had used Demand 5. Only 10% had used Sky Player and 7% had used LoveFilm. Usage of the other services among those polled ranged from 3% for BT Vision to 0% for TalkTalk TV.

“Consumers, especially the younger generation, are growing increasingly accustomed to catching-up with previously screened content online,” said David Elms, Head of Media at KPMG. “Currently, many streamed services are available free of charge. Importantly, however, in our survey respondents indicate that they would be willing to pay to access film, music and TV content on demand.”

Breakthrough for online streaming provides a summary of the latest KPMG Media and Entertainment Barometer survey results and is available from their web site.

www.kpmg.com