TV Market Round-Up – November 2004

Britain’s smallest terrestrial broadcaster, Five, continued to perform well during November, notching up an impressive 9.5% revenue increase year on year to just under £29.3 million. November saw Five announce a massive £17 million boost to its programming budget, designed to boost the broadcaster’s profile and increase overall viewing share.

Elsewhere Channel 4 managed a respectable 8.9% increase in revenues, pushing its total to just over £70.5 million. Channel 4 has also boosted its programming budgets lately, increasing the number of factual and political programmes in its schedules with a large investment in its flagship peak-time current affairs show, Dispatches (see Channel 4 Boosts PSB Output With Dispatches Investment).

ITV was the only terrestrial broadcaster to see its revenues dip in November, losing 5.0% and pushing its total down to just over £167.2 million. November saw ITV air the latest series of I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, hailing the series as a success just days into its run, as the launch show drew a peak of 10 million viewers (see I’m A Celebrity Off To Good Start For ITV).

ITV franchise GMTV saw the largest revenue increase amongst terrestrial broadcasters during November, adding a solid 10% year on year to just under £7.5 million, meanwhile the nation’s satellite broadcasters continued to see healthy growth, notching up a 16.2% increase in the same period to give a total of over £67 million.

ITV Franchises

The picture across ITV’s franchises was largely unchanged during November, with none of the regional broadcasters managing to significantly increase their revenue share. LWT came the closest to breaking the 1% point barrier with an increase of 0.95%, while Central performed the worst, losing 1.86% points to contribute 15.64% of ITV’s total income.

Costs Per Thousand

ITV was the only commercial terrestrial broadcaster to see its costs per thousand fall during November, with costs for all demographics except Men suffering a decline. ITV’s costs for Women saw the largest decline, as 7.6% was shaved off the total.

Elsewhere, Channel 4 saw the largest increases, with the broadcaster’s Housewives with Children category rising by 24.9% and Men adding 22.9%. Likewise, Five saw sizeable increases, with the station’s Men category leading the way and increasing by 15.2%./news/2004/11nov/22/celeb.cfm

Commercial Impacts

Channel 4 saw a downward turn in commercial impacts across the board during November, with the broadcaster’s Housewives with Children category declining the most at 12.8%. Channel 4’s Men category also saw a downturn, falling by 11.4%.

Five also saw a number of declines, losing 4.9% from its Men category but notching up the largest rise in any sector amongst terrestrial broadcasters, with a 3.0% increase in the Women category. Satellite impacts continued to see increases across the spectrum.

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