Digital Television Round-Up – September 2004
ITV recovered lost ground during September, increasing its average weekly share of viewing in all homes by 3.1% points to rise back above the 20% mark amid criticism over a reliance on poor quality programmes.
The broadcaster’s increased total marks a healthy return following a dip in viewing during August. The increased viewing share will be welcomed by the broadcaster as an answer to media management consultancy, Billetts, which recently claimed it was concentrating too closely on boosting revenues at the expense of increasing audiences (see ITV Reaches A New Low With Old Habits Says Billetts).
The criticism was sparked by ITV’s announcement during September that pre-tax profits had jumped up 59% to £132 million in the first half of the year, driven by an improvement in advertising revenue which grew by 4% for the group (see Improved Advertising Revenue Drives ITV Profits Up 59%).
However, the nation’s largest commercial broadcaster has begun the roll out of a number of high-profile, high-rating entertainment shows, including X Factor and the forthcoming I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, both shows will feature heavily promoted interactive content to guarantee the audience is engaged and retained throughout the programmes’ duration (see ITV Boosts Interactive To Run Services Non-Stop).
Elsewhere BBC One notched up an increase in its share of viewing in all homes, adding 3.9% points to just under 25%. Channel 4 also performed well, adding 1.8% points and achieving an overall share of 9.26% in all homes. Other Channels rose by 8.8% in year on year analysis to command a 27.88% of average weekly viewing.
ITV’s performance was less impressive in digital homes as the broadcaster suffered the largest decrease of all terrestrial channels. Although the loss of 1.0% points is far from cataclysmic, ITV will be disappointed at the downturn, especially considering its increased investment in digital services such as interactivity and the soon to be launched ITV3 (see ITV3 Unveils On-Air Branding Ahead Of Launch).
The BBC also suffered a decline in viewing share amongst digital homes, losing 0.2% points and failing to retain the massive audience boost it notched up during the Olympic Games. The Corporation attracted nearly nine million viewers to its interactive services on digital TV during the sporting event, and has since pledged to continue its commitment to the fledgling medium (see BBC Pledges Continued Commitment To Interactive TV).
The nation’s terrestrial broadcasters continued to enjoy more success in Freeview homes than in Sky Digital homes due to the lack of choice afforded to viewers by Sky’s extra channels. BBC One continued to outperform its terrestrial rivals, notching up a 21.64% share in Freeview homes, while ITV trailed only marginally with a total share of 18.08%.
Other channels continued to dominate the viewing of Sky Digital customers, with a share of 42.76%. Amongst Freeview homes the total was much smaller, at 16.1%, owing to the lack of multi-channel competitors operating on the platform.
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