UK Media Makes Ready For Final Election Week
As the election media circus prepared to enter its final week, some parties were already declaring themselves winners. Sky News was one of these, as it claims BARB figures show that its election coverage has helped to increase its share in multichannel homes from 0.44% to 0.46%, while both BBC News 24 and the ITN news channel have fallen, to 0.32% and 0.07% respectively.
Sky was particularly pleased about its coverage of the John Prescott punch incident. The broadcaster was the first to show footage, gaining a 0.6% share in multichannel homes the following day as a consequence. The event also helped the channel to gain a record response in an interactive TV poll, with 37,000 viewers voting- 61% supporting Prescott’s actions and 39% expressing disapproval.
Meanwhile, reality TV claimed what some may see as a worrying victory on Thursday last week, when the residents of Channel 4’s Big Brother house attracted 4.4m viewers…while over on BBC1, the 10 O’Clock News could only muster 4.3m viewers, according to unofficial overnights. ITV managed 5.9m viewers for its own news broadcast in the same spot, some consolation perhaps for the drooping ratings of what was billed as this year’s reality TV hit, Survivor.
With the two main channels going head to head with 10pm news bulletins for the first time during an election campaign, ITV looked to have the advantage for the first two weeks in May. Its best audience figure for the week ending 6 May was 0.5m higher than the BBC’s, while the following week this lead rose to 1.5m. During the third week BBC1 fought back, however, and managed an average 0.5m more viewers for its best performing programme.
The BBC announced its election night team on Friday. Coverage titled Vote 2001 – The Verdict will be anchored by David Dimbleby, flanked by BBC heavyweights Jeremy Paxman, Fiona Bruce, Peter Snow and Andrew Marr. Unlike ITV, the BBC will also assign individual reporters to each of the major political figures. Anchors will also host dedicated programming in Scotland and Wales, Radios 4 and 5 will provide combined coverage on the airwaves, while interactive coverage will be available to digital viewers.
ITV announced its own plans for election coverage at the start of last month (see ITV Reveals Plans For Election Coverage) and has been running an extended 10pm bulletin throughout the campaign. The BBC rejected this idea due to fears of election fatigue amongst its viewers.
BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.co.uk
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