Television Viewing Round-Up – September 2007

All terrestrial channels saw their viewing share in all homes drop year on year for September, with the exception of BBC One, which recorded a marginal increase.

Channel 4 saw the sharpest fall, by more than one percentage point, whilst other channels bolstered their share by almost two percentage points, taking their share to over 37%.

BBC One’s viewing share in all homes rose to 22.6%, up 0.1 percentage point year on year for September.

Silent Witness was a consistent winner in the 9pm timeslot for the channel in the month, with episodes of the disturbing detective drama beating ITV1’s reality show Hell’s Kitchen on several occasions (see Silent Witness Wins It For BBC One).

The return of Who Do You Think You Are? was also a boon for the station, with the first episode of the new series of the family history search netting an average adult audience of 6.5 million (see Strong Return For Who Do You Think You Are?).

England’s crucial Euro 2008 qualifying match against Russia was also popular with BBC one viewers in September, giving the channel a peak of 10 million adults in them middle of the month (see England Win Gets 10 Million Adult Viewers), whilst the return of intrepid traveller, Michael Palin, also proved popular for the station (see Palin Sees Off Hell’s Kitchen For Sunday Night Ratings Crown).

Hell’s Kitchen suffered against Silent Witness and the footy, and ITV1’s viewing share was down 0.4 percentage points year on year to take the channel’s share to 19.6%.

This was despite the successful return of The X Factor and Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway to the Saturday night schedule, and the start of the Rugby World Cup (see More Than 6.5 Million Come To The Party On BBC One).

Meanwhile, Channel 4 suffered the most significant fall in its viewing share in all homes, down by 1.1 percentage points to take its share to 7.5%. Elsewhere, BBC Two dropped 0.1 percentage points year on year, taking its share to almost 8%, and above C4’s.

Five lost 0.7 percentage points, to take its share to almost 5%, whilst other channels grew their share year on year for the month from 35.3% in 2006 to 37.1% in 2007.

As digital switchover draws ever nearer, BBC One, BBC Two and ITV1 recorded an upturn in their viewing share in digital homes for September.

BBC One commands the greatest share, up 0.9 percentage points year on year to almost 20.5%, with ITV1 following at 18.4%, up from just under 18% in 2006.

BBC Two’s share rose to 6.5% from 6.4% the previous year, meaning it has now overtaken Channel 4’s share in digital homes for September, which stands at 6.4% following a slide of 0.6 percentage points.

Five’s share fell by the same figure year on year for the month, now standing at 4.4%. Other channels also dropped by the same amount, but retain their dominance with a 43.5% share.

BBC One once again retained its position as the most popular terrestrial channel in both Sky and Freeview homes, with a 24.2% share in Freeview homes and a more than 17.5% share in Sky homes in September.

Multichannel options continued their dominance, remaining the most popular channel choice in both Freeview and Sky homes. Viewing share of these digital channels is just over 52.5% in Sky homes and more than 33% in Freeview homes, with the difference due to the smaller channel choice available on Freeview.

ITV1, meanwhile, has a 20.3% share in Freeview homes and a 16.5% share in Sky homes.

Data to form this report can be found in the Television database on mediatel.co.uk within the “Weekly – Analysis by Platform” section. For any assistance please contact the helpdesk on 020 7439 7575.

BARB: www.barb.co.uk