Television Viewing Round-Up: April 2010

Television viewing figures for April 2010 reveal a fall in viewing shares for all terrestrial channels with the exception of BBC Two.

ITV1 suffered a 1.9 percentage point fall on April 2009, while BBC One was down 0.8 percentage points.

Channel 4 also witnessed a drop in its viewing share, down 1.1 percentage points on last year, while Five dipped 0.3 points.

All Viewing

BBC Two enjoyed a 0.1 percentage point increase in April 2010, keeping its viewing share static at 6.9%, following a bumper sports month.  The channel boosted its share with Formula 1 coverage, live Golf and Match of the Day, with the addition of popular documentary programmes such as Great Ormond Street.

BBC One’s viewing share, meanwhile, stands at 20.3%, down from 21.1% in April last year, despite a fairly impressive line-up.  BBC One pulled in more than 8 million viewers for the final Live Election Debate.  The channel’s Grand National coverage also peaked with 7.6 million viewers, while its Five Daughters drama series proved to be popular addition to the 9pm peak-slot.

ITV1 now has a viewing share of 15.6%, despite also running schedule of rating-winning programmes such as Britain’s Got Talent – which returned with more than 10.6 million viewers – UEFA Champions League games and the last ever A Touch of Frost.  However, long-running peak-hour shows such as The Bill let the channel down in April.

Following its fall, Channel 4 now has a 6.2% viewing share, while Five’s share sits at 4.7%, down slightly from its 5% this time last year.

Digital Viewing

In digital homes, BBC One managed to hold on to the biggest viewing share at 19.7%, despite a 0.2 percentage point decline in April.

ITV1 took second place with 15.3%, down from 16.5% in April 2009 following a 1.2 percentage point drop.

Once again, BBC Two was the only channel to report a percentage point increase in the month, up 0.5 to 6.6%.

Channel 4’s share stands at 6.1% after a 0.6 percentage point fall, while Five’s total sits at 4.6% following after a 0.2 percentage point drop.

Sky and Freeview Homes

In April, BBC One had a 23.7% share of viewing in Freeview homes and an 17.1% share in Sky homes, while ITV1 had an 18% share in Freeview homes and a 13.1% share in Sky homes.

Other channels had a 55.1% share in Sky homes and a 35.2% share in Freeview homes.