During 2013 – according to the latest figures from the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (Barb) – we watched three hours; 55 minutes; and 30 seconds of TV per day.
At no point did any Gogglebox character beg to watch a Sky Arts documentary on the History of the Ceramic Kiln or refer to a repeat of Lena Dunham’s movie Tiny Furniture – which influenced Girls y’know – and at no point did anyone suggest the TV was turned off so the family could practice 20 minutes of mindfulness meditation to a Tibeten windchimes app. In fact, no one seemed to care about Breaking Bad at all. No, Gogglebox was about big, broad, mass-market TV which unites the nation, allots focus for debate, and more importantly than anything else, cheers people up.
Only 1.5 per cent of viewers are consuming TV via computer screens and tablets, and the remaining 98.5 per cent of us are still watching it on the big clunking screen in the corner of the room. It’s worth remembering this the next time one is faced with a deeply pretentious mobile advert featuring some excitable cash-rich time poor wazzock who seems unable to walk down a road without simultaneously watching a Premier League game or House of Cards on Netflix on his phone.
Nigella on Gogglebox
Gogglebox - John Lewis Christmas advert discussion
