Digital Television Round-Up – February 2001

BARB’s viewing figures for February show that non-terrestrial channels command a larger share of viewing across all homes than they did last year, with average weekly share during February having increased in the year on year analysis. Nearly all the terrestrial channels saw a year on year drop in average weekly audience share during the month. BBC 2 was the only exception to the rule.

The increased uptake of digital television over the past year does not seem to have benefitted the non-terrestrial channels in digital only homes, as this groups grip on audience share slipped further below the 50% mark during February. BBC1, ITV and Channel 4 do not seem to have inherited much of this audience share, staying more or less steady year on year, but the smaller terrestrials, BBC2 and Channel 5 have seen increases.

Looking at the performance of channels in Sky Digital homes versus ONdigital homes, the non-terrestrial channels continue to command just under 50% audience share in Sky Digital homes, compared to just over 30% in ON Digital homes. As many Sky Digital homes are customers converted from Sky’s satellite services, it could be that more established non-terrestrial service users, who would be likely to have non-terrestrial viewing habits established, make up more of the Sky Digital homes audience.

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