Only 10% of UK homes use VCR, but two thirds still own one

VCR use in the UK has gone into sharp decline, with only one home in ten having used the device in the last 12 months, according to research by digital-terrestrial TV platform Freeview. However, 64% of UK homes still own a VCR, according to the research.

Freeview found that just over half of homes still with VCRs had put the devices into storage and no longer used them, while only 11% of homes had used their VCRs to record programmes in the past year. Twenty-three per cent of households had given up using their VCRs within the past three years.

The research found that the average home still had 25 tapes of recorded content, equivalent to 660 million pre-recorded tapes in storage nationwide.

Scots and Londoners still use VCRs more than the UK average, at 15% each, as are 18-24 year-olds, 15% of whom also still use the devices.

Eighty-one per cent of those surveyed said they now used a DVR to record programmes.

Populus surveyed 2,000 UK adults for Freeview between March 8-10.