Programme Analysis: Live Football Matches W/E 09/03/97

ITV’s coverage of Manchester United’s 4-0 victory over Porto at Old Trafford on Wednesday March 5 attracted a consolidated audience of 11.068 million, which is a TVR of 20. The previous night BBC1 broadcast the Newcastle/Monaco match, which was watched by 8.963 million, a TVR of 16. The difference in audiences was undoubtedly down to the popularity of the teams, rather than superiority of ITV’s sports coverage.

In terms of viewing by area, the highest audiences were in the North, predictably so given the English teams which were playing. The North West had the highest viewing for the ITV game, with a TVR of 24, and one of the highest for the BBC coverage at 19. The gap between ITV and BBC audiences for the regions were smallest in the London area, one of the highest BBC audiences and the lowest ITV audience, and the Border and North Scotland regions. Viewing of the Newcastle game was highest in the North East, which was the only region where the BBC audience outstripped ITV’s.

The audience profiles of both games were relatively predictable, with a male bias and lower Women rating. For both channels there was approximately the same difference in ratings between categories. For example, there was a difference of 12 TVRs between Men and Women for ITV and a 5 TVR difference between Adults and Men for BBC1.

Source: BARB

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