Television Viewing Round-Up – November 2005

November saw all terrestrial broadcasters suffer a fall in viewing share in all TV homes year on year, losing viewers to multichannel offerings.

Similar falls were true in digital homes, with BBC1 the only exception. It managed to increase its share in digital homes by 0.9% year on year.

All Viewing

ITV1’s viewing share fell 0.7% points year on year, despite the month providing strong programming for the channel. Ratings winner I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here performed well for the channel (see Dramatic Start Boosts I’m A Celebrity), as did X-Factor, even though this was often elipsed by BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing (see Strictly Come Dancing Continues To Beat X Factor).

BBC1, Channel 4 and Five all had a fall in share, year on year, of 0.5%, leaving BBC1 with a share of viewing of 23.4%, margainally above ITV1 at 22.9%. Little Britain returned mid-month to mixed reviews and high ratings, cementing its position as the most popular comedy programme of last year (see BBC Enjoys Little Britain Success).

Channel 4 remains behind BBC2 with an 8.8% share, compared to 9.3% for BBC2.

Multichannel viewing increased year on year by 2.7% points, however its share of 29.8% was slightly below last month’s levels.

Digital Viewing

BBC1 again had a successful month in digital homes, adding 0.9% points to its viewing share, bringing its total share to 19.7%.

BBC2 had a good month as the broadcaster added 0.4% points onto last year’s share, overtaking Channel 4 to become the third most popular terrestrial channel in digital homes.

Channel 4 and Five both saw small drops in share, with Five being the greater casualty, losing 0.2% points on last year’s level.

Multichannel options continue to dominate in digital homes, however their share is 1% point lower than at this time last year, with 42.1% of viewing across November.

Freeview Vs Sky

BBC1 retained its position as the most popular terrestrial channel in Freeview homes, with a 24.8% share of viewing, down 0.9% points on last month.

ITV1 continued to stake this claim in Sky homes with an 18.4% share of viewing. This is up on last month’s figures and widens the gap between themselves and BBC1 to 1.1% points, compared to 0.5% points in October.

Multichannel remained the most popular channel option in both Freeview and Sky homes. Viewing share of these digital channels is 50% in Sky homes and 26% in Freeview homes, with the difference due to the small channel choice available on Freeview.

BARB: www.barb.co.uk