Channel 5 sees biggest increase in terrestrial young adult viewers in a decade
Affluent and younger viewers lead the way in a strong start to Channel 5’s 2012. Viewing figures for the first four full months show the largest growth to a terrestrial broadcaster in a decade, with 16 to 34-year olds increasing by 16%.
A similar success story was seen for ABC1 audiences with growth of 12%.
The recent audience growth has been spurred on by the return of Celebrity Big Brother at the start of the year, which reached more young adults in January than any other programme on commercial TV.
New US dramas Once Upon A Time and Body of Proof, as well as other returning dramas The Mentalist, CSI and NCIS – all averaging at nearly two million viewers per episode each – also contributed to the channel’s growth.
For advertisers, the growth in viewing has resulted in impact increases, with 14% growth for 16-34 Adults, and 16% for ABC1 Adults across the key demographics.
Channel 5 is set to run another series of Big Brother this summer and a new Celebrity Big Brother in June, as well as Dallas at the end of the summer.
The channel’s top-rating programmes of 2012 (of all individuals) include:
- Football – Manchester United v Athletic Bilbao (3.7m viewers)
- Celebrity Big Brother (3.5m viewers)
- Football – Manchester United v Ajax (3.08m viewers)
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2.96m viewers)
- Football – Ajax v Manchester United (2.87m viewers)
- Football – Athletic Bilbao v Manchester United (2.7m viewers)
- CSI: New York (2.66m viewers)
- Once Upon a Time (2.66m viewers)
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2.51m viewers)
- NCIS (2.39m viewers)
Nick Bampton, commercial sales director, said: “Channel 5 is changing and our continued investment in quality and relevant programming is key to this. The audience growth we are experiencing is the highest increases by a terrestrial broadcaster since 2003 – and that was for Channel 5 too.”
MediaTel subscribers can access viewing share and programme data in mediatel.co.uk’s TV Database.