Television Viewing Round-Up – May 2006

The nation’s terrestrial broadcasters put in a disappointing performance during May in all viewing homes, with all but Channel 4 suffering a downturn in viewing share year on year, although the picture was slightly different in digital homes.

Multichannel broadcasters continued to increase their audience share in all viewing homes meanwhile, capitalising on the increasing proliferation of digital equipment in British homes.

Channel 4’s addition of 1.4% points to its share in all homes will buoy the broadcaster, especially in the face of declines by rival stations. The channel now commands an audience share of 10.5%, comfortably above BBC Two at 8.7%.

ITV1 saw the largest downturn in all homes, shedding a significant 2.4% points from its audience share to total 19.5%. May saw Nokia renew its sponsorship of key ratings winner X Factor, with the mobile phone company covering both the celebrity strand in May and the new series later in the year (see Nokia Renews Sponsorship Deal With X Factor).

Meanwhile, BBC One’s decline of 0.8% points left the broadcaster with a total audience share of 23% in all homes, considerably higher than ITV1.

Elsewhere, Five recorded a dip of 0.8% points to 5.8%, whilst multichannel broadcasters saw a sizable 3.2% point increase in audience share year on year, pushing total share to 32.6% in all TV homes.

Channel 4 also had a successful month in digital homes, adding 1.8% points to its viewing share, bringing its total to nearly 9%. Last year Channel 4 and BBC Two had similar shares of viewing in digital homes, separated by just 0.5% points, but Channel 4 now commands 2.1% more share than BBC Two.

Channel 4 won the right to show its television programmes on the internet for 30 days after they are broadcast, thanks to an agreement reached with Pact on new media rights (see C4 Wins Battle To Screen Shows Online).

ITV1 continued to see a downward trend, with a drop in viewing from last year of 1.4% points, leaving it with 17.4% share of viewing in digital homes.

BBC One saw 0.6% point increase in viewing share, taking its total to just under the 20% mark.

Multichannel options continue to dominate viewing in digital homes, but saw a slight dip in share year on year, with a fall of 0.9% points.

BBC1 continued to be the main terrestrial channel of choice in Freeview homes, with 25.3% share of viewing, followed by ITV1 at 20.2%.

The same trend was true in Sky homes, with BBC commanding a 17% share, compared to ITV1’s 15.7% share.

Due to the larger channel choice available, multichannel options remained the most popular choice in both Freeview and Sky homes, with over half of the viewing share in Sky homes dominated by satellite channels.

BARB: www.barb.co.uk