BBC1 Audience Falls Below

30% BBC1’s share of audience has fallen to below 30% (28.9%) for the first time since 1985 – a fact which the Corporation blame on the transferral of viewers from BBC1 to BBC2 during Wimbledon. Even though Wimbledon undoubtedly plays a part in the channel’s poor performance it should be noted that in the comparable week last year BBC1 still managed a 31.8% share.

These latest figures continue to fuel the much talked about crisis at the BBC in terms of programming. The average share of viewing achieved by the channel in the second quarter of 1993 was 31.7%, down 1.3% points on the same period in 1992. Looking at the Top 30 programmes, apart from both episodes of’Eastenders’and all episodes of ‘Neighbours’, BBC1 only manage to get ‘Lady Chatterley’, the news and ‘999’ into the ratings.

Recent programming changes instigated in order to ‘stop the rot’ have been the axing of ‘That’s Life’, ‘Jim’ll Fix It’ and ‘Top of the Pops’.