Digital Television Round-Up – December 2004
The BBC saw its weekly viewing share slip in all homes during December, with both BBC1 and BBC2 in decline compared with their terrestrial rivals. BBC1 lost 2.2% points to push its total viewing share to 23.5% in December, while BBC2 lost 2% points to give a total share of 9.4% in the same period.
Commercial broadcasters were more fortunate, however, with ITV seeing a rise of 0.2% points to push its overall weekly viewing share to 24.6%, topping that of BBC1 during December, while Channel 4 added 0.3% points year on year in the same period to give an overall viewing share of 9%.
December saw ITV air its much vaunted Christmas schedule, including a Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Special, the first ever Christmas instalment of popular crime drama Midsomer Murders, movie premieres of Finding Forrester and A Simple Wish as well as an appearance by recently acquired chatshow king, Parkinson (see ITV Unveils Christmas Schedule To Rival BBC).
Five notched up the largest increase in viewing share at 0.6% points year on year. The broadcaster now commands an overall weekly viewing share of 6.3%, and clearly has plans to increase its profile and extend overall viewing.
Five recently confirmed that it was assessing a number of options for expansion, including the creation of a dedicated children’s TV channel based around its Milkshake programming strand (see Five Eyes Expansion With Digital Children’s Channel).
The situation was similar in all digital homes during December, with the BBC seeing its share of viewers dip in the face of commercial competition. BBC1 lost 0.6% points, while BBC2 shed 1% point to reach totals audience shares of 18.9% and 6.2% respectively.
ITV was again in front of the BBC in all digital homes, with an increase of 0.8% points year on year pushing its total weekly viewing share to 19.5%. Five also prospered in digital households, adding 0.8% points to give a total of 6.8%. Channel 4 saw a rise in digital audiences, notching up a 0.2% points rise year on year to claim a total weekly viewing share of 6.8%.
Other channels saw their share of weekly viewing dip slightly in December, losing 0.2% points year on year. The channels now command 43.8% of weekly viewing in all digital homes, down from 44% in December 2003.
The nation’s terrestrial broadcasters continued to see success on the Freeview platform, owing mainly to the lack of choice compared to that enjoyed by Sky Digital customers. The BBC continued to shine on the free-to-air system, notching up a 25.45% viewing share compared with 16.7% in Sky Digital homes.
ITV was the second most watched broadcaster on Freeview, with a total viewing share of 23%. However, the nation’s largest commercial broadcaster managed to top the BBC’s viewing share in Sky Digital households, with an overall share of 18%.
Other broadcasters continued to flourish on Sky’s platform, with a share of 51.5% compared with 22.9% amongst Freeview viewers. This is due mainly to a lack of multi-channel operators on the free-to-air platform, although a new licence is currently up for auction and could result in an extra broadcaster operating from 1 April (see Crown Castle Puts New Freeview Channel Up For Grabs).
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