Fuel Crisis Drives News Ratings

This week’s fuel crisis may have caused havoc for most people but for news channels and programmes it has been a godsend. ITV’s special broadcasts has allowed its news coverage to gain back some credibility, after months of criticism following the demise of News At Ten (see ITV’s Battle With The ITC Could End In Court), and 24-hour news channels have recorded record ratings as viewers sought up-to-the-minute information.

A special edition of Tonight with Trevor McDonald on Wednesday night scored higher ratings than Big Brother. A total 6.7m viewers tuned in – a 37% share on the television audience – according to overnight figures. The live programme, which has been much maligned as a replacement for News At Ten, showed live coverage of the latest news around the country.

Special extended news specials replaced daytime schedules on the network as the crisis deepened, and over 17m watched ITV coverage during Tuesday and Wednesday.

Twenty-four hour news channels have seen their share of viewing rocket as viewers sought regular updates. Sky News saw ratings 400% higher than its average share: on Wednesday around 2.75m viewers tuned it, giving it a share of 3.25% across all multi-channel homes; on Tuesday it received a 2.98% share, according to overnight figures.

Rival BBC News 24 took a 1.76% share on Wednesday and a 1.32% share on Tuesday, and the new ITN news channel trailed behind, taking a 0.32% share on Thursday and 0.19% on Wednesday.

Sky News’ website received more than 12 times its usual traffic and Sky News Active, its interactive news service, claimed to provide the most comprehensive regional coverage, which included a 24-hour dedicated Fuel Crisis “channel”.

BSkyB: 020 7705 3000 ITV: 020 7843 8000 BBC: 020 8743 8000