Rising number of Turkish viewers prefer watching TV on the Internet

Turkish citizens prefer watching TV on the Internet, according to the latest data announced by Hayrettin Özaydın, the president of the Satellite Electronic Communication Professionals Association (TUYAD). Özaydın told the Anadolu Agency (AA) that in recent years, there has been a significant increase in the rate of viewers who watch TV on the Internet. While the rate was only 2 percent in 2013, it reached 9 percent last year. In Turkey, television shows can be watched from 23 million access points and 18.5 million TVs use dish antennas to receive TV signals. Özaydın says that watching TV via satellite is the first preference of viewers in Turkey, followed by purchased broadcast platforms, cable TV and IPTV channels that broadcast via the Internet. By the end of this year, the rate of people who watch TV via the Internet is expected to increase to 11 percent. Furthermore, he stated that the Internet will soon be preferred over cable TV. "All broadcasts on the Internet can be watched without advertisements or you can watch the programs you missed. You can access them anytime and anywhere," Özaydın stressed. He said that a similar trend is seen in Europe, as well. "Europeans also prefer watching TV over the Internet. Since it doesn't require a cable connection or an antenna, the Internet has taken its place. It is more common to watch TV on the Internet thanks to rapid technological advances," he said. Özaydın added that people mostly watch TV series and movies on channels. The next important advantage is that those living abroad can watch local TV channels from their home countries on the Internet. Özaydın said that using the Internet enables them to keep up with what is happening in their countries. A previous study conducted in August by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) also revealed that the number of 16-to-74-year-olds who are using the Internet increased to 56 percent in 2015 from 54 percent the previous year. It seems that television in Turkey will continue to lose ground to the Internet in the near future.