Survey: 53.6% of HK TV viewers open to new ad formats in free TV programmes

Over half of free TV viewers in Hong Kong (53.6%) find it acceptable for licensees to insert new forms of ads in free TV programmes, such as advertising plays and ad banners, according to a survey by The Communications Authority (CA). 

Commissioned by the CA and done by NielsenIQ (Hong Kong), the opinion survey aims to track changes in the viewing and listening habits of the public and gauge their views on the services provided by broadcasting licensees. 

The survey was conducted from June to September 2024, involving 1,640 Hong Kong residents aged 15 or above who had watched TV programmes or listened to radio programmes in the month before the survey. Among them, 1,504 had watched TV programmes while 655 had listened to radio programmes in the month before the survey. 

Viewing habits

The survey found that 89.5% of respondents had watched free TV programmes in the month before the survey, a slight decrease from 92.2% in 2021, 91.0% in 2017, and 91% in 2014. On average, free TV viewers spent 2.6 hours watching free TV programmes per day regardless of the means. 

Regarding the reasons for watching free TV programmes, free TV viewers did so “for obtaining information such as news, weather, financial and traffic reports” (78.5%), followed by “for entertainment” (54%) and “just to have ‘background’ sound” (22.9%).

The most commonly watched free TV channels were Jade (77.7% on weekdays, 77.8% on weekends), TVB News Channel (67.2% on both), ViuTV (36.5% on weekdays, 35.3% on weekends), TVB Plus (33.6% on both), HOY TV (24.2% on weekdays, 22.5% on weekends), ViuTVsix (13.9% on weekdays, 14.5% on weekends), Pearl (13.0% on weekdays, 14.4% on weekends), and HOY Infotainment Channel (10.6% on weekdays, 10.3% on weekends).

In terms of changes in viewing habits over the past three years, 60.8% of free TV viewers reported watching about the same amount of free TV programmes. Meanwhile, 33.6% watched less, and 5.6% watched more. Among those who watched less, the main reasons included "unattractive programs/celebrities" (56.5%), "availability of on-demand/streaming services" (42.1%), "inability to obtain needed information" (21.1%), "fixed programming times" (15.7%), and "lack of interactive features" (13.6%).

When asked about new forms of advertisements in free TV programmes, 53.6% of viewers found it acceptable for licensees to include them. The most accepted new format was advertising scenes (34.7%), followed by advertising plays (28.7%), advertisement banners (24.5%), squeeze backs (13.6%), and split screens (9.9%).

Meanwhile, 11.3% objected to any new forms of advertisements being inserted within free TV programmes. The major reasons were “viewing pleasure would be negatively impacted” (8.7%) and “not interested in watching advertisements within free TV programmes” (1.6%). Additionally, 35.1% said they had no comment.

Habits of watching internet-based media 

Among TV viewers, 24.6% said that they had watched internet-based media in the month before the survey. The average time spent per day was 2.4 hours. The platform most often watched by viewers was YouTube (80.3%), followed by Netflix (55.7%), Facebook (44.5%), Instagram (36.3%), Disney+ (21.3%), myTV SUPER (19.6%), TikTok / Douyin (13.4%) and Xiaohongshu (11.8%).

The main reasons for watching contents provided by Internet-based media were “convenience: can watch anywhere and anytime” (87.5%), “easy to look for programmes / videos that suit my viewing interest” (52.9%), “more up-to-date information to obtain” (26.7%) and “content of personal choice or for niche markets” (25.5%).

Listening habits

On the other hand, the survey found that 38.8% of respondents had listened to radio programmes in the month before the survey. This represents a decline in radio listenership compared to 42.4% in 2021 and 44.7% in 2015.

On average, radio listeners spent 2.2 hours per day listening to programmes, regardless of how they accessed them. The main reason for doing so was that radio is "available during transportation" (42.5%), followed by "to obtain information" (38.9%) and "for background sound while doing other tasks" (30.5%).

The radio channels most often listened to were CR1 (雷霆 881 商業一台) (41.4% on weekdays and 40.3% on weekends), CR2 (叱咤 903 商業二台) (35.0% on weekdays and 34.6% on weekends), RTHK Radio 1 (香港電台第一台) (32.7% on weekdays and 31.8% on weekends), RTHK Radio 2 (香港電台第二台) (24.5% on weekdays and 24.6% on weekends), Metro Info (新城知訊台) (6.1% on weekdays and 5.9% on weekends) and RTHK Radio 5 (香港電台第五台) (5.5% on weekdays and 5.9% on weekends). 

Among radio listeners, 44.2% said they had listened to online music platforms / other Internet radio programmes. Among those (42.7%) who listened to online music platforms, the platforms most often listened to were YouTube Music (58.8%), Spotify (31.3%), Apple Music (23.2%) and JOOX (22.9%).

In terms of listeners’ views on radio services, 71.4% said that they were satisfied with programme variety. 22.4% considered it average. 2.1% expressed dissatisfaction with the subject and 4.1% had no comment. Among those (2.1%) who had expressed dissatisfaction with programme variety, 69.1% commented that their dissatisfaction was related to “lack of programmes that bring new ideas and creativity”, followed by “insufficient variety of programmes to suit the needs of different age groups” (62.2%), “lack of programmes to cater for the needs of ethnic minorities” (11%) and “programmes have been pre-dominated by similar genres” (8.9%). 

Regarding advertising time, 59.1% of radio listeners considered that the advertising time limit should remain unchanged while 18.4% considered that it could be relaxed. Additionally, 22.6% had no comment. 

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