Television Viewing Round-Up – March 2009

BBC One saw a slight rise in its viewing share in March, with the four other main terrestrial broadcasters showing year on year declines.

BBC One’s viewing share rose to 21.5% in March following a year on year increase of 0.3 percentage points. Last month saw the return of The Apprentice to BBC One, with the first show in the series grabbing 8.3 million viewers (see Alan Sugar’s new Apprentice banks the top spot).

There was a dip of 0.2 percentage points for BBC Two, leaving its viewing share at 7.0%, while Channel 4 was also down 0.2 percentage points, to 7.4%.

ITV1 was down 0.5 percentage points year on year, to 18.1%. Big hits for ITV1 during March included Law & Order: UK and the end of Dancing on Ice (see The final Dancing on Ice pulls in over 11.5 million viewers).

Five dipped by 0.4 percentage points year on year, to a 5.1% viewing share.

Other channels were up by 0.9 percentage points to 40.2% in March.

In digital homes, BBC One’s viewing share increased 6.0 percentage points, to 20.5%, while sister channel BBC Two was down 0.1 percentage points year on year, to 6.3%.

ITV1’s viewing share fell 0.3 percentage points in digital homes, to 17.1%.

At 6.8%, Channel 4 remained static year on year in digital homes, while Five dipped by 0.2 percentage points to 5.0%

BARB: www.barb.co.uk