Laughter is the best medicine
As the new autumn TV schedules get underway, research from Sharp shows that 89% of Europeans are turning to the TV to help them escape from stress. The survey, which looked at European viewing habits, found that we’re most likely to forget money worries (top worry for 44% of us) by watching comedies like Outnumbered and Peep Show. It also found that the UK is the reality TV capital of Europe, Spaniards aren’t soap fans and the serious Germans most like to relax to documentary films.
What are we watching?
Most of us tune in to comedy when we want to escape from the stresses and strains of everyday life (56% men and 59% women). Sport is the second most popular TV to relax to for men – especially football, rugby and tennis – while more than half of women (55%) want to scare the stress out of their system with crime dramas like The Killing and Breaking Bad.
The UK is the reality TV capital of Europe, with 37% of Brits relaxing to reality shows like Geordie Shore and TOWIE. Reality TV is nearly twice as popular in the UK than in Germany (17%) and Spain (19%) and considerably more popular than in France (25%).
Other national arguments over the remote control might arise over soaps: only 7% Spaniards would choose to escape to soap operas, compared to a quarter or more people in France (29%), Germany (24%) and UK (26%).
More money, more problems
Post-summer holiday blues aren’t the only reason that we’re reaching for the remote, the survey showed that across Europe, most people are currently worried about money. Work comes a close second for UK, France and Spain, pushed into third place in Germany (29%) by concerns over health (36%).
Perhaps confirming their reputation as a nation of lovers, one in five French people (21%) most want to escape their relationship worries, compared to only 13% Spaniards.
Sporting favourites
Showing how much we’re missing the Olympics, one year on, it’s still the top answer for the French when asked what their favourite TV sport is (43%). For the UK, ‘Murraymania’ perhaps goes some way to explain why Brit’s top favourite sport to watch is tennis (43%), closely followed by football (41%). Recent Spanish and German European football dominance is reflected in the fact that over half of Germans (58%) and an impressive (67%) of Spaniards escape to football success and triumph on TV.
Comedy is the most popular film genre to escape to in UK (51% people), France (58%) and Spain (67%), while serious Germans like to get absorbed in a good documentary (42%)
“Human behaviour is at the heart of everything we do at Sharp; it isn't just about developing impressive technology but also understanding how and why people choose to use it. For our latest TV launches, we wanted to look at how TV viewing habits and motivations change across Europe. As you will see there are some vast differences especially in what various nationalities prefer to escape to!”
Alberico Lissoni, President, Consumer Electronics, Sharp Europe
Ultimate escapism experience
Something that all Europeans can agree on, when asked what the critical factor is for the ultimate escapism experience, the overwhelming majority of people said picture quality: Brits (88%), French (77%), Germans (78%) and Spaniards (78%).
For more information, visit sharp.co.uk/gb.
