Television Viewing Round-Up – August 2005
The nation’s terrestrial television broadcasters saw mixed performances during August, with both the BBC and ITV suffering decreases in viewing share year on year, while Channel 4 and Five managed to increase their totals in the face of an otherwise depressed terrestrial landscape.
All Viewing
Amongst the nation’s terrestrial stations, Channel 4 saw the largest increase in viewing share during August, adding 2.97% points year on year in all homes.
Channel 4’s total viewing share now stands at 12.45%, and with the broadcaster securing its highest ever audience share earlier this month, its outlook continues to prove rosy (see Channel 4 Cricket High Stumps Rivals).
August also saw Five notch up an increase in viewing share, adding 0.17% points year on year to total 6.37%. Last month saw the broadcaster announce the termination of its weekday serial drama, Family Affairs, which was said to have “come to the end of its natural lifespan” and would make space for the channel to “try something new”.
Larger broadcasters, ITV and the BBC, struggled to match the success of Channel 4 and Five in August, with BBC1 and BBC2 losing 5.9% points and 0.92% points respectively. the stations now command shares of 21.42% and 9.87%.
ITV shed a smaller amount of its share during August, with a year on year decline of 0.4% points leaving the broadcaster’s total at 19.55%.
Reports earlier this month suggested that the broadcaster would soon rejig its evening schedule, moving the late evening news to 11pm in order to provide more space for high rating shows (see ITV Considers Shift For Late Evening News).
Other broadcasters continued to see viewing share increase in all homes, adding 4.02% points year on year in August to total 30.62%.
Digital Viewing
ITV fared better in digital homes during August, adding 0.57% points year on year to increase its total share of viewing to 15.67%. The BBC’s declines were also less severe, with BBC1 shedding 5.1% points year on year, while BBC2 lost 0.47 in the same period.
The declines leave BBC1 with a viewing share of 17.35% in digital homes, while BBC2 commands a total of 7.02%.
Channel 4 and Five continued to perform well, adding 3.37% points and 0.45% points respectively. The broadcasters’ viewing shares now stand at 10.77% and 5.05%.
Elsewhere, other broadcasters continued to increase their viewing share in digital households, with a total of 44.17%, creeping up by 1.2% year on year in August.
Several new digital channels launching this year promise to shore up terrestrial broadcasters, however, with Channel 4 launching More 4 next month, while ITV will begin broadcasting its fourth digital-only channel, ITV4.
The broadcaster has also announced plans to launch a dedicated children’s channel within six months, although a name for the new service has yet to be decided (see ITV To Launch Children’s Channel Within Six Months).
Freeview Vs Sky
The broader channel line up and increased choice in Sky homes saw other broadcasters receive a much higher share than in Freeview equipped homes during August, at 53.25% compared to 25.95% in Freeview households.
The higher share of viewing sees other broadcasters outperform even the leading terrestrial broadcaster, BBC1, with 22.72% in Freeview homes, while its total dwarfs smaller broadcasters such as Channel 4, with 13.02% and Five with 7.82%.
Terrestrial broadcasters continued to perform better in Freeview homes than in Sky homes, due mainly to the reduced bandwidth and smaller level of choice between other broadcasters.
BARB: www.barb.co.uk