...but spending on the genre falls again

Almost three-quarters of viewers say that showing 'high quality comedy made in the UK' is a key part of public service broadcasting.

But fewer than 60 per cent say TV companies are achieving that target – although the figure is on the rise.

The new figures from regulator Ofcom also reveal that spending on original comedy programming fell by four per cent last year to £99million.

That's the lowest spend on comedy in the nine years the figures have been collated. In 2007, comedy spending peaked at £155million.

The number of hours of original British comedy aired across the public-service channels also slumped in 2015: down nine per cent to 193 hours.

At 72 per cent, comedy was rated higher than than dramas and soaps (69 per cent) when viewers were asked what was important for a public-service broadcaster to provide.

That's up from just 54 per cent in 2011, the first year the question was asked.

A total of 59 per cent of viewers said broadcasters were delivering on that, up from 50 per cent last year.

Under Ofcom's definition, the public service broadcasters area all the BBC channels, plus ITV and its Scottish and Northern Irish counterparts, Channel 4, Channel 5 and S4C. Other than the BBC offerings, digital channels such as ITV2 are not counted as public service broadcasters in the regulator's annual research report, which was published today.

Published: 11 Jul 2016