With the increasing range of services online to catch up with your missed television, such as BBC iPlayer, Channel 4’s 4OD, and ITV.com, you would be expecting traditional TV to be almost a thing of the past. Well not so, as a recent survey by marketing company Thinkbox shows that traditional TV and internet TV seem to be growing together, instead of internet TV taking the lead.

According to TechRadar UK, a spokesperson had this to say about the survey.

That both broadcast and online TV platforms are growing simultaneously underlines how they fulfil different needs for viewers and that they can co-exist and indeed promote each other.

Services such as the BBC iPlayer and Channel 4 On Demand have been very successful in the UK, at least in my experience, as it is something my whole use, and saves for a lot of grief when someone misses their favourite TV show or if you are just looking for something to watch.

Other details the survey found out is that UK viewers watched an average of 3.77 hours of TV a day so far this year, which is a 2% increase on the average over the last 5 years. Thinkbox also reckon that we have seen around 6% more ads so far this year than we did this time last year.

It’s an exiting time for TV, as more people move online and offer more and more content, and not only the big TV channels. Those such as Revision 3 and Leo Laporte have attracted a large viewing base, helped by the fact that most presenters once had posts presenting or working for old TV channels such as Tech TV in America before it was bought by G4.

It seems the UK’s attempts at getting people to switch to digital service and TV’s is working, as new research reveals that Britain has more digital TV homes than the rest of Western Europe. How many? 22,268,000 households, according to Informa Telecons and Media’s Research (via TechRadar.com).

Second came France, with 18,017,000 households with digital gear, while Germany trail third with 15,300,000. Italy come in at 11 million, whilst Spain fall in 3 million under that, with 8 million. The rest of Western Europe combined amount to 14 million, around 6 million than the total of the UK alone.

It seem nowadays, remaining on basic analogue TV is incomprehensible, at least to me anyway. With the wide choice we have in the UK, such as the BBC channels, ITV’s selection, great free comedy channels such as Dave and a list of radio channels, Freeview is a no-brainer, and with set-top boxes as a low as £20, there is no reason (except for poor coverage) to not have one. Pricier options such as Sky+ are also thriving, with the added number of channels for your viewing pleasure.

Informa reckon that by the end of 2008, over an amazing 100 million Western European households will be watching their TV through digital rather than analogue.

For me, I have switched to a USB Freeview stick attached to my computer so I can watch and record while doing other things. We did have a Sky+ subscription before, but I have found that most of the best TV programs out there are on the Freeview channels anyway, and then you realise that most of the channels on Sky are complete rubbish anyway. Also, if there is nothing to watch on Freeview, I tend to go and do something else anyway. It is interesting to see how Freesat will come along. I haven’t really done much research on it, but I assume that it is like Freeview but coming through a satellite instead. This might entice people who already have sat subscriptions to switch if the service is desirable. I still think that Digital Terrestrial will be ahead as is it more easy to connect up to your existing aerial, or connect up to your computer and use Windows Media Center or EyeTV on a Mac.

Anyway, I’m going now to watch some hilarious comedy on Dave (which is a great name for a channel, by the way).