TV Viewing Round Up – July 2000
Programmes George Orwell couldn’t possibly have foreseen that his 1949 literary classic 1984 would become the basis for commisioning editors’ great new programme ideas. With celebrity’s own personal hell being banished to Room 101 on BBC2, Channel 4 decided to use the book’s main protagonist Big Brother for its summer schedule.
Already a big hit in Holland, the show’s format has been transplanted around the rest of the world. At the start of the month ‘Nasty’ Nick, ‘Flirty’ Mel, ‘Noxious’ Nichola and ‘Monotone’ Tom weren’t even names in their own households, now up and down the country they are part of everyday conversation.
Big Brother got off to a good start with 3.66 million viewers tuning into the first edition on 18 July. Thereafter it was uphill all the way, with viewing figures eventually peaking last week at 6.2 million (see Nasty Nick’s Nightmare Notches Up Record Ratings For Big Brother). It remains to be seen whether the departure of the machiavellian Nick Bateman will effect viewing figures and whether new girl Claire Strutton will bond as well with the general public as she has with Craig.
July wasn’t just about Big Brother for Channel 4; returning to our screens were pencil-thin lawyer Ally McBeal and slightly incestuous Friends (with opening episode viewing figures of 3.51 and 4.93 million respectively). Two royal related documentaries also helped pull in the viewers for the channel, with The Real Queen Mother getting 4.55 million viewers and Wallis Simpson achieving an audience of 3.88 million.
Viewing With all the publicity regarding Big Brother plus the strong performance of several new programmes, it comes as no surprise that Channel 4 has managed to improve its year on year average hours and minutes total. During July 2000 Channel 4 was watched on average for two hours and thirty-one minutes, up 5.6% on July 1999.
Also doing well was BBC2, which screened the majority coverage of the second week of Wimbledon 2000 at the start of the month. The channel recorded a 12.6% year on year increase in average hours and minutes to stand out two hours and forty-one minutes.. The best performance goes once again to viewing for non-terrestrial stations (Others), watched on average for four hours and seven minutes (up 30.7% year on year).
| Month | BBC1 | BBC2 | ITV | C4/S4C | Channel 5 | Others |
| Jul-2000 | 6:14 | 2:41 | 6:40 | 2:31 | 1:23 | 4:07 |
| Jul-1999 | 6:22 | 2:23 | 6:39 | 2:23 | 1:16 | 3:09 |
| % Change | -2.1 | 12.6 | 0.3 | 5.6 | 9.2 | 30.7 |
Despite an improved hours and minutes total, Channel 4 slips slightly with it monthly share of viewing (down 0.06 percentage points year on year). Of the terrestrial stations only Channel 5 and BBC2 increase their share of viewing, up 0.15 and 0.76 percentage points year on year. Others once again increased share the most, up 3.64 percentage points.
| Month | BBC1 | BBC2 | ITV | C4/S4C | Channel 5 | Others |
| Jul-2000 | 26.40 | 11.40 | 28.20 | 10.70 | 5.90 | 17.50 |
| Jul-1999 | 28.69 | 10.64 | 29.85 | 10.76 | 5.75 | 13.86 |
| % Point Change | -2.29 | 0.76 | -1.65 | -0.06 | 0.15 | 3.64 |
BBC2 had the best monthly in terms of viewing by ITV franchise area, with only the East region falling year on year. The channel had a three-way tie between London, Midlands and North East region for its best year on year increase (up 1.1 percentage points).
The station with the biggest fall in franchise viewing share was ITV, which fell by 5.3 percentage points in the Ulster region.
| Franchise Area | BBC1 | YoY Point Ch | BBC2 | YoY Point Ch | ITV | YoY Point Ch | C4/S4C | YoY Point Ch | Channel 5 | YoY Point Ch | Others | YoY Point Ch |
| London (Wkdy & Wknd) | 27.4 | -1.8 | 12.2 | 1.1 | 25.5 | -1.3 | 10.9 | 0.0 | 6.8 | 1.1 | 17.3 | 0.9 |
| Midlands (Central) | 26.2 | -0.3 | 11.1 | 1.1 | 28.5 | -0.3 | 9.9 | -0.3 | 7.4 | -0.7 | 17.0 | 0.6 |
| North West (Granada) | 23.8 | -4.7 | 10.2 | 0.4 | 29.1 | -3.0 | 9.6 | -1.0 | 5.9 | 0.9 | 21.4 | 7.5 |
| Yorkshire | 25.8 | -2.4 | 11.1 | 0.7 | 31.7 | 0.0 | 11.2 | 0.0 | 6.4 | -0.8 | 13.8 | 2.6 |
| Central/North Scotland | 23.9 | -2.9 | 11.1 | 0.0 | 27.4 | 0.4 | 10.6 | -0.6 | 7.2 | 0.2 | 19.8 | 3.0 |
| Wales & West (HTV) | 28.6 | -3.7 | 11.3 | 0.1 | 27.3 | -1.5 | 9.4 | -0.6 | 4.3 | 0.2 | 19.1 | 5.5 |
| South & South East & Channel Islands | 27.3 | -3.3 | 12.6 | 0.4 | 29.1 | -3.6 | 10.7 | -0.7 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 18.9 | 7.0 |
| North East (Tyne Tees) | 24.1 | -2.5 | 10.5 | 1.1 | 29.4 | 0.1 | 10.0 | -0.5 | 6.7 | 0.6 | 19.2 | 1.2 |
| East (Anglia TV) | 27.3 | -2.7 | 10.6 | -0.3 | 29.5 | -1.3 | 10.2 | -0.1 | 3.8 | 0.5 | 18.6 | 4.0 |
| South West (West Country) | 31.8 | -2.4 | 13.4 | 0.7 | 30.6 | -0.3 | 12.9 | 0.5 | 2.5 | -0.5 | 8.8 | 1.9 |
| Ulster (UTV) | 24.7 | -0.3 | 9.4 | 0.4 | 29.5 | -5.3 | 9.9 | -0.1 | 4.2 | 0.6 | 22.3 | 4.8 |
| Border | 24.6 | -3.7 | 11.0 | 0.8 | 33.3 | -1.6 | 10.7 | -0.2 | 2.7 | -1.0 | 17.6 | 5.6 |
Ratings BBC1 had a pretty bad month rating wise, with all audience categories falling year on year. Women and Housewive jointly fall the most, down 0.9 percentage points.
Unsurprisingly all of Channel 4’s peaktime ratings are up year on year, with the most improved being Housewives with children (up 0.7 percentage points).
| Station | Day | Adults | YoY Ch | Men | YoY Ch | Women | YoY Ch | Hwives | YoY Ch | Hswvs/Ch | YoY Ch | ABC1 Adults | YoY Ch |
| BBC1 | Mon-Sun | 10.9 | -0.6 | 9.8 | -0.2 | 12.0 | -0.9 | 12.5 | -0.9 | 11.7 | -0.2 | 10.8 | -0.4 |
| BBC2 | Mon-Sun | 3.8 | 0.2 | 3.9 | 0.3 | 3.7 | 0.0 | 4.2 | 0.1 | 3.0 | -0.3 | 4.2 | 0.2 |
| ITV | Mon-Sun | 13.2 | 0.4 | 11.3 | 0.1 | 15.1 | 0.9 | 15.7 | 0.7 | 12.2 | -0.5 | 11.2 | 0.1 |
| Channel 4 | Mon-Sun | 4.3 | 0.5 | 4.1 | 0.6 | 4.4 | 0.3 | 4.8 | 0.4 | 4.7 | 0.7 | 4.3 | 0.3 |
| Channel 5 | Mon-Sun | 3.0 | 0.3 | 3.1 | 0.2 | 3.0 | 0.4 | 3.5 | 0.4 | 3.0 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 0.2 |
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