Feature: Channel 5 Films Boost Viewing Share

Channel 5, the station that brought us copious helpings of Xena: Warrior Princess, colourful, punchy news bulletins, and a 9pm film every night, has just celebrated its third birthday. Over the last three years Channel 5 has gradually carved itself a niche in the nation’s viewing schedule with its own mix of films, entertainment and tactical scheduling, and has seen its share of viewing rise from 2.9% in 1997 to 5.4% during 1999. It is the only terrestrial channel to report a rising viewing share over this period, as the other stations increasingly lose audiences to cable and satellite channels. The average adult watched an hour and twenty-two minutes of Channel 5 each week in 1999, up from just less than three-quarters of an hour a week in 1997, according to BARB viewing figures.

One of C5’s strengths is its film output, which, in a survey conducted by CIA MediaLab last month, was considered excellent by a quarter of those questioned – amongst heavy ITV viewers, this figure rose to 37%. An analysis of the channel’s 1999 output by the Independent Television Commission (ITC) shows that 20.8% of programming comes from feature films. This makes films C5’s dominant programme strand, with ‘other drama’ coming in second at 18.4% of total output.

The station has often been criticised by the public and industry alike for scheduling low quality, often imported, entertainment series and broadcasting little in the way of original high-budget drama. Earlier in the year the ITC agreed to lower the proportion of original drama on the station and in return Channel 5 committed to increase its investment in the production of these drama series. The Commission particularly praised the station’s Moors Murderers current affairs programmes in its 1999 annual report, but added that the channel “still suffers from the inclusion of a great deal of low-budget material of little distinction.” Notably, C5’s arts output remains at less than half a percent of the station’s total programming each week.

Over the past three years Channel 5 has seen its audience profile for the prized ABC1 Adults category increase by 4.0% points to comprise 38.3% of the channel’s adult audience on average in 2000 so far. ITV’s ABC1 Adult audience profile, which has grown by 3.4% points over the same period, is only slightly higher at 39.8%. Despite its appearance as a youth station, C5’s fastest-growing audience is currently the over 65s, which rose by 3.8% points between 1997 and February 2000 to comprise 23.5% of the station’s adult audience. At the same time the profile of the 16-34 age group has fallen from 23.9% to 21.8%.