Whatever next Teletext?
I had the television on yesterday but wasn't really paying attention until an advertisement came on for Teletext. It wasn't the advertisement that grabbed my attention, and in fact I can't remember anything about it, except for one extraordinary claim being made.
According to the advertisement 16 million people use Teletext EVERY week. My first reaction was one of surprise that Teletext still exists. I can't remember the last time I looked at it and to be honest I don't know anyone else who uses it either.
The only conclusion I could make was that Teletext was including everyone who uses their online service as well. This still means they are claiming that EVERY week around one in four people including children, either use Teletext on their TV or on the Internet.
The vast majority of people who do use Teletext, use it to book their holidays, and that is an annual activity not a weekly one. So quite frankly I think the figures are nonsense.
Teletext as an information service is as dead as the dodo despite their claim that the original analogue service is still used by 10 million people. The vast majority of people seeking information will turn to the Internet today, not wait for an endless spool of text-based pages which never tell you what you want to know.
The reality is that Teletext is no longer in the information business but is another holiday company, albeit one with a wholly inappropriate name, and dubious claims about usage.
Where that leaves Ceefax is anyone's guess.
