Admap Conference – Channel 5 Six Months On: Firecracker or Damp Squib? (Part II)

How will Channel 5 now develop?

The speaker for this part of the conference was Dr Stephan Buck who is group research director of Taylor Nelson AGB. He started by saying that it had been widely accepted that the station had not exactly got off to a spectacular success but it was too early to be writing obituaries just yet. Many new stations that have launched since 1955 have at one time or another been written off only to find their place in the market.

The determinants of Channel 5’s future success can be re-phrased very simply as follows:

• Maintaining or increasing the viewing levels of its core viewers
• Upgrading the viewing levels of its light and nil viewers
• Attracting and then holding new viewers through special events

Predicting the progress of the new channel can be compared the success or failure of a new FMCG brand launch. A good example can be found in the area of heavy users and early triers, these people make up the core purchasing for new and niche brands in grocery and also TV channels.

An analysis for the month of April found that: 18% of the viewing population account for 84% of C5 viewing; heavy viewers of C5 are heavy viewers of TV generally; the first few weeks after its launch viewing to C5 was additional to normal viewing levels; heavy C5 viewers tend to be relatively young and the main loser during C5 first month was BBC2..

If the channel is to reach its aspired aims it needs to maintain the viewing levels of its heavy viewers but also dilute their importance by increasing the viewing of former light viewers.

C5 has to increase its share sufficiently to escape from the pack by the time digital brings in universal channel proliferation, or it may well face severe problems.

Dr Buck finished by saying: “C5 has a window of opportunity to become an established channel rather than merely one among dozens. What we need to do now is monitor how well C5 is taking advantage of that window.”