Almost half abandon phone-ins after scandals in UK

The number of people taking part in UK TV competitions and phone-in votes has dropped by nearly half following the emergence of the premium-rate scandals, according to research out today.

The survey found that 43% of those who took part in “participation TV” in the last 12 months have now stopped.

Nearly two thirds (63%) either no longer take part or have significantly reduced their involvement.

The participation TV market has shrunk, according to the research by media strategy adviser Oliver & Ohlbaum Associates.

Spending on TV votes, programme quiz questions and dedicated quiz channels has plummeted from £400m (€572m) at the height of its popularity to around £120m (€171m) in the last 12 months.

Most of the decline took place in the past four months.

The report, Battling for the Media Consumer – Winners and Losers, says: “Until this summer, participation TV was the golden goose for free to air television networks which had seen their traditional advertising revenue come under pressure from a growth in rival channels and the PVR (personal video recorder) threat to spot advertising.

“Commercial network broadcasters will clearly have to look elsewhere for revenue growth in the future.”

A separate report by management consultancy Mott MacDonald Schema also delivered more bad news for the industry.

It found that 89% of people who have used premium rate phone-in services have lost confidence in them.

Nearly two thirds (62%) believe that premium rate TV phone-in competitions and votes are “just a way to cheat people out of money with no chance of success”.

Only 2% of people said the problems would not deter them from using premium rate TV phone-in competitions while 4% said they had lost some confidence but would still consider using them.

Around four fifths (84%) said that they were unlikely to participate in premium rate TV phone-ins even if they were clear about the costs and likelihood of winning.

Almost three quarters (73%) still believe that there are problems with premium rate TV phone-in competitions and votes.

Mott MacDonald Schema senior media consultant Robin Bosworth said: “Although there is a clear market for premium rate phone-ins, the public has lost all confidence in their honesty.”

Oliver and Ohlbaum questioned 2,500 adults in the UK while Mott MacDonald Schema commissioned Ipsos Mori to interview a nationally representative sample of 900 British adults.

Yesterday GMTV was fined £2m (€3m) by broadcasting watchdog Ofcom for charging viewers to enter competitions they could not win.