ITV Has A Tough Two Months As Ratings Slip

ITV1 has suffered one of its worst ratings drop in the past five years with audiences for the first two months of 2005 down by 10% year on year.

Audience figures show 23% fewer 16-35 year olds watched ITV1 in January and February in 2005, compared to the same period in 2004.

This drop is attributed by many to the airing of the highly successful I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here at the beginning of 2004 which affects year on year comparison. The show was one of ITV’s highest rating programmes in 2004, enjoying a peak of 10 million viewers and a 35% audience share on its first night, with the hour and a half long show attracting an average of 9 million viewers (see I’m A Celebrity Off To Good Start For ITV).

ITV’s average audience share of 16-35 year olds in January and February was 17.4%, compared to 22.7% in 2004, a slip of 5.3%. Overall viewing figures for the last two months show ITV1’s January share to be down from 24.6% in the same period in 2004 to 22.1% in 2005, a drop of 2.5%.

This downwards trend is echoed in February’s figures, with a 22.3% share, dropping from 24.6% compared to the same month in 2004.

BBC2 was the only channel to have reported a greater loss in viewers over the same period, with its audience share slipping by 12% during January and February 2005.

ITV1’s ratings figures for the first week of March look more optimistic, with the broadcaster revealing that it won its second highest peaktime share of the year last week, with an average of 31.3% of viewing share.

Across last week, ITV1, ITV2 and ITV3 collectively averaged a 23.63% share in multi-channel homes for 09:25-29:59, resulting in the best ITV aggregate share across the year to date.

For all-time viewing between 09:25-29:59, ITV1 was the only terrestrial channel to record an increase in audience figures, enjoying its highest share since December 2004 with 23.4%.

In Ofcom’s recent Public Service Broadcasting Report, it was announced that ITV would be allowed to cut its non-news regional programming. The proposal was welcomed by the broadcaster, which has long argued that its current PSB commitments would become increasingly unreasonable in the face of growing competition from multi-channel broadcasters (see ITV Welcomes Loosened PSB Requirements).

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com

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