TV Market Round-Up – January 2006

ITV1 had a very bad start to the year, with revenues for January falling by 10.1%, down to £116.6 million, according to estimates collated from media agencies. Reports in the national press anticipate that, across the first quarter, ITV will be facing its worst financial results for 10 years, with revenue forecast to suffer a year on year drop of 13.5%, to £351.8 million (see ITV To Suffer Worst Q1 Results For Over A Decade).

Channel 4 also saw revenues fall during January, down 6.7% year on year, to £51.6 million.

Following several months of revenue slides, GMTV saw a reversal of fortunes with a slight increase of 1.2% year on year, leaving revenue of £4,280,000.

Satellite channels saw an impressive 19.2% increase year on year, pushing their combined revenues at £68.9 million.

ITV Franchises

Carlton saw the greatest increase in its revenues during January, increasing by 0.7% points year on year, to provide the largest franchise share of ITV’s revenues at 15.99%.

By comparison. LWT lost 0.9% points year on year to provide 11.43% share of the broadcaster’s revenue.

West Country continued to provide the smallest share at just 1.9% of ITV’s total, down 0.1% year on year.

January saw ITV1’s CPTs fall across the board, with the biggest decrease demonstrated by Housewives with Children, which was down 10.17% year on year.

Channel 4 also saw its CPTs reduce for all of our featured audiences, and to a greater extent than ITV1. Housewives with Children had the greatest reduction at 15.4%, whilst Women fell by 11.27% to £9.37.

By comparison, Five saw all of its CPTs increase year on year, other than for ABC1 Adults which fell by 4.5%. Other CPTs increased by between 1% and 3%.

Please note that the formula MediaTel uses for calculating cost per thousands has recently changed and no longer factors in volume discount. All archive data has been amended for consistency throughout the MediaTel database along with this and all forthcoming reports.

ITV1 had a poor month and saw its impacts fall across each featured audience, with only Men remaining stable with no change on last year’s figures. The broadcaster lost 9.2% year on year for both Adults and ABC1 Adults, with Housewives with Children losing 6.2% year on year.

Channel 4 had a mixed month with a strong rise in impacts for Men, up over 10% year on year, whilst seeing dips for both Adults and Housewives. The broadcaster’s ratings winner Celebrity Big Brother hit the screens at the beginning of January and the finale saw the series record its best ever closing performance (see Friday Final Sees Strongest Ever Celeb Big Brother).

Five saw its impacts increase year on year, with a healthy increase of 9.3% for ABC1 Adults leading the way. In addition, women increased by 8.6%, with men showing the smallest increase, but still up a healthy 4.5%.

Satellite impacts continued last month’s trend, with increases across the board, varying from 11.9% for ABC1 Adults up to 21.7% for Housewives.

BARB: www.barb.co.uk