Survey: Dutch prefer watching television alone
May 10th, 2010 - 8:48 pm ICT by BNO NewsAMSTERDAM (BNO NEWS) — Dutch prefer watching people alone, are annoyed by commercials, and only get out of bed for sports and important news events such as the U.S. presidential elections, a survey found.
Nearly 3,000 people participated in the survey, which was conducted by UPC Netherlands - one of the country’s largest cable operators. While a third of those participating in the survey said that watching television is a social activity, more than 48 percent said they prefer watching television with company that does not comment. And some prefer watching television alone, to avoid such comments.
A majority of men said they prefer watching sports programs alone, while a majority of women said they prefer watching sports programs together. Women, unlike men, said they prefer watching a television series or soap.
When it comes to the remote control, a majority (62 percent) said they decide what to watch together, while 42 percent said they solely control the remote control. If they can’t agree on what to watch, 42 percent said they decide to do something else such as puzzles or computer games. Women, more than men, choose for household tasks.
Both men and women said they prefer to watch informative, educative programs and documentaries and said they prefer watching movies, shows and entertainment programs with their partner or friends. Watching television is also often combined with activities such as the internet (44 percent), reading (28 percent) and household tasks (24 percent).
Also, even though there are online TV guides available, more than half of those participating said they prefer using a printed TV guide to find out which programs will be aired.
Further, a majority said they usually do not wake up during the night solely to watch television. But if they do it is usually for events such as the football world championship, the Olympic Games, and important news events such as the U.S. presidential elections.
On average, most Dutch watch about 3.5 hours of television a day, mainly between 6 p.m. and midnight on Monday through Fridays and after 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
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Tags: bno, cable operators, computer games, documentaries, educative programs, entertainment programs, football world, household tasks, important news, majority of men, olympic games, presidential elections, puzzles, remote control, sports programs, television series, tv guide, upc, watching sports, watching television